WITCH in 2012
by AceNavalPilot
Summary: When the world is hit by massive disasters in 2012, Irma, her husband, and some of her friends try to survive the chaos.  BASED ON THE HIT MOVIE!  Most of them will make it, but not all.  Rated T for language and intense disaster scenes, including death.
1. First Signs of Trouble

Chapter 1

First signs of trouble

_Naga Deng Copper Mine, India_

_2009_

Dr. Adrian Helmsley was traveling in a taxi towards the mine, which was now the Institute of Astrophysics, to meet his friend Satnam, who had just made an important discovery.

It was pouring down rain and large puddles had formed in the road. The taxi pulled up and Adrian got out as Satnam rushed over.

"Welcome, my friend!" Satnam said.

"Great to see you again!" Adrian replied as they hugged briefly.

"Yeah, great to see you made it." Satnam replied. Adrian turned and recognized a kid playing near a puddle.

"That can't really be Ajit, he's already a little man! Unbelievable, he's grown so fast!" Adrian said.

"I hope you're hungry, Adrian!" Satnam's wife Aparna called out. "I'm starving. How are you, Aparna?" Adrian replied.

"I made that fish curry that you love!" Aparna called out. "I can't wait!" Adrian replied.

Adrian and Satnam walked towards the entrance elevator. "Aparna gets more and more beautiful every time I see her. Why is that?" Adrian asked.

"It's strange, isn't it? But her fish curry is still awful." Satnam replied jokingly.

"You seemed mysterious on the phone. Why didn't you attend the conference?" Adrian asked. "I will show you why, Adrian, sir." Satnam replied.

"Satnam, please stop 'siring' me." Adrian replied. Being called "sir" all the time was one of Adrian's pet peeves.

They got into the elevator and began their descent. "How deep do we have to go?" Adrian asked.

"Eleven thousand feet. I searched all over India for this thing. This used to be the world's deepest copper mine." Satnam replied. A few minutes later, the elevator reached the bottom of the shaft.

"Do you remember my brother, Gurdeep? He's now a student." Satnam said as Gurdeep opened the elevator doors and they got off.

"Namaste, Dr. Helmsley, sir." Gurdeep said as he greeted Adrian. "Please, it's just Adrian." Adrian replied as he walked out.

"How do you work in this heat?" Adrian asked, sweat covering his face as the heat in the mine shaft took its effect.

"You've come on one of the good days, my friend. Sometimes it can hit 120 degrees." Satnam replied as he led Adrian to a laboratory filled with computers.

"You have to come and meet Dr. Lokesh, a fellow of quantum physics at the university in Chennai." Satnam said as they met a scientist taking notes at a piece of equipment that recorded data onto chart paper.

"Namaste." Adrian said as he greeted Dr. Lokesh. "Dr. Helmsley." Dr. Lokesh replied as he greeted Adrian.

Satnam led Adrian to a computer and brought up a simulation. "So, what are we looking at?" Adrian asked as he looked at the screen.

"These are neutrinos acting normally. Minuscule mass, no electrical charge, they pass through ordinary matter almost undisturbed." Satnam replied as he showed Adrian the simulation that showed the normal readings of neutrino behavior. "Your message said the count doubled after the last solar eruptions." Adrian said. "That was last week, but this happened two days ago." Satnam replied as he led Adrian to another computer and brought up a history of recent solar activity.

The data showed a massive eruption of solar mass bursting from the sun. "The largest solar eruptions in human history, causing the highest count of neutrinos ever recorded." Satnam explained.

"Oh, my God." Adrian said as he stared at the screen. "That's not what worries me, Adrian. For the first time ever, the neutrinos are causing a physical reaction." Satnam said.

"How is that possible?" Adrian asked. "Please, follow me, I'll show you." Satnam replied as he led Adrian to a large chamber filled with sensors used to detect neutrinos.

"You will not believe this, this water tank goes down another six thousand feet. It looks like the neutrinos coming from the sun have mutated into a new kind of particle." Satnam explained as he opened the hatch to the water tank.

Steam billowed out of the tank as the hatch was opened up. "They're heating up the core of the Earth and suddenly act like microwaves." Satnam explained.

Adrian stared in disbelief as the water inside the tank boiled.

_Lincoln Plaza Hotel, Washington, D.C._

_2009, two days later..._

Adrian rushed into the hotel where a formal fund-raising event was taking place. "It's okay, it's okay, I work for the White House." Adrian told the doormen.

"I don't care, this is a black-tie event." one doorman told him. Just then, Adrian spotted his colleague Scotty within the crowd.

"Scotty!" Adrian called out. Scotty walked over, a surprised look on his face.

"Hey, Adrian, I thought you were still in India, what's going on?" Scotty asked.

"I need your jacket." Adrian replied. "What?" Scotty asked in disbelief. "I gotta speak to Anheuser, give me you damn jacket, please." Adrian replied.

"Okay, okay." Scotty replied as he took off his jacket and gave it to Adrian. "Hold that for a bit, will you?" Adrian asked as he gave Scotty his bag and put the jacket on.

He took a notebook out of the bag and walked towards Carl.

"Mr. Anheuser?" Adrian called out as he approached Carl. "Mr. Anheuser!" Adrian called out again. Carl turned his head and spotted Adrian.

"I need to talk to you." Adrian said. "I'm sorry, do I know you?" Carl asked, confused.

"Sorry sir, my name is Dr. Adrian Helmsley, I'm a deputy geologist at the Office of Science and Technology Policy." Adrian explained.

"Excuse me for a moment, please." Carl said as he turned to face Adrian. "You know that this is a fundraiser, not a frat party, right?" Carl asked as he noted Adrian's not-so-formal attire.

"It's extremely important, sir." Adrian pleaded.

"You know what? It always is. Here's what I want you to do: make an appointment with my- you know, even better: have your boss bring it up at the quarterly briefing, okay? There's a good plan." Carl replied.

This got Adrian frustrated and he was determined to have Carl read the notes he had from India.

"I just traveled twenty straight hours to get here, sir. I haven't slept in two days! You need to read this, sir. You need to read it now!" Adrian said, his frustration taking hold.

Carl finally took the notebook. "Let me guess, national geology crisis?" Carl said jokingly to the people he was talking to earlier.

_More like global geology crisis!_ Adrian thought. Carl put on a pair of reading glasses and began reading over the notes.

He grew concerned and even worried as he read on. Finally, he turned to Adrian. "Who do you report to?" he asked.

"Lee Cavazos" Adrian replied. "Not anymore." Carl replied. He turned around and began walking as Adrian began to follow. He got out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Alan, bring the car around." he said. He hung up and turned towards Adrian. "You're gonna wish you took a shower." he said.

"Sir?" Adrian asked in confusion. "You're about to meet the president." Carl replied.

"What's going on?" Scotty asked.

"Get that to the office." Adrian replied. Scotty stared on in disbelief and confusion.

_G8 Summit, British Columbia_

_2010_

The leaders of some of the major nations, including the Russian president and the American president were holding a meeting to discuss the situation that was discovered last year.

"Good morning, I would like to meet privately with my fellow heads of state." President Wilson said as he entered the meeting room.

The Russian president said something to one of his interpreters in Russian. "Mr. Makarenko wishes to have his interpreters present." the interpreter said, translating what President Makarenko just told him.

"Mr. President, I can assure you, your English is more that sufficient for what I have to say." President Wilson said as the interpreter translated the statement for President Makarenko.

President Makarenko agreed and told his interpreters to leave the room.

The others left the room as well, leaving just the heads of state.

"Mr. Presidents, six months ago, I was made aware of a situation so devastating that, at first, I refused to believe it. However, through the concerted efforts of our brightest scientists, we have confirmed its validity. The world as we know it will soon come to an end." President Wilson said grimly.

_Cho Ming Valley, Tibet, China_

_2010_

A massive construction area was being set up in the mountains as Chinese military helicopters flew patrols overhead.

An announcement was being made by a soldier over a megaphone.

"(Translated from Mandarin Chinese)This dam project will create many new jobs. The Party and country will assist in your relocation." The announcement stated.

People were being loaded into military trucks to be transported to relocation sites as the workers stayed behind.

As people were being selected for specific jobs, a siren began to sound.

Seconds later, large blasts ripped through the side of a mountain.

_Empire Grand Hotel, London_

_2011_

A king from the Middle East was looking over an electronic dossier that was given to him in his hotel room. The dossier was digital, translated into Arabic.

The English man looked on as the king stared at the small screen in disbelief.

"Has His Highness had an opportunity to study the dossier?" the man asked. The king looked up at the man.

"You must understand, I have a very big family, Mr...?" the king said.

"Isaacs." the British man replied.

"One billion dollars is a lot of money." the king replied.

"I'm afraid the amount is in euros, your Highness." Isaacs replied.

_Musee Du Louvre, Paris, France_

_2011_

A group of men wheeled a special case towards the Mona Lisa. They opened the case, revealing a duplicate of the famous painting.

"(Translated from French)I put a lot of faith into your organization." One man said as two others lifted the replica from the case.

"It's a perfect replica, Roland. There are too many fanatics out there that could damage her. Just think about all those beautiful Buddha statues they blew up in Afghanistan. Our Heritage Organization has already made selections from the British Museum and L'Hermitage." A woman, Laura, said as two more men gently lifted the real Mona Lisa from it's place and carefully placed it into the case.

"I guess she'll be safe now, tucked away, hidden in some bunker in Switzerland." Roland said as the other men wheeled the case away.

"Perfectly safe, Roland, only infrared analysis would reveal the difference." Laura said.

"But it's still a fake." Roland replied.


	2. The End Begins

Chapter 2: The End Begins

_Heatherfield, California_

_2012_

Robert and Irma Lair were watching the local news as they got ready for Robert to take his sister Jennifer's two kids camping in Yellowstone National Park.

"This mass suicide was actually discovered by a documentary crew here in the ancient Mayan city of Tikal. Now, the victims, and there have been many, are said to have adhered to the Mayan-Quiche` calendar, which predicts the end of time to occur on December 21st of this year due to the sun's destructive forces." The on-site reporter stated.

"Thank you, Mark; strangely enough, scientific records do support the fact that we are heading for the biggest solar climax in recorded history." the newsroom reporter added.

Just then a small tremor shook the house for several seconds. "Wow, that was a rough one." Irma said.

"Yeah, I sometimes wonder how I got used to it." Robert replied.

Just then, a blue sedan pulled up in front of the driveway. Robert and Irma got up and looked out the window.

Jennifer and her two eight-year-old kids, Edward and Bella, ran up to the front door as Robert and Irma walked out.

"Uncle bob!" Edward yelled in excitement as he ran up to Robert.

"Aunt Irma!" Bella yelled in equal excitement as she ran up to Irma. Robert and Irma hugged the kids as Jennifer walked up to them.

"They grow up so fast!" Robert said. "Yeah, they seemed so little last time we saw them!" Irma replied.

"Is everything ready?" Jennifer asked.

"Yeah, everything's good to go!" Irma replied.

"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Robert said as he led the kids to his jet black Toyota Tundra 4x4 pickup truck.

"I'll be back in a few days, dear." Robert said as he kissed Irma. "I love you." Irma said.

"I love you too!" Robert replied as he got into the driver's seat.

They got in and Robert started the engine. "Have fun!" Jennifer said as she and Irma waved goodbye.

"WE WILL!" Ashley and Andrew yelled out the back window as they drove off.

As they drove off, Robert and the kids didn't notice the crowd gathering down the other street.

"Whoa, man!" one man said.

"Sick!" another man said. "Would you look at that?" a woman said. What they were looking at was a large crack that had formed in the middle of the road.

The fissure bent sharply at the intersection and stretched down the road for two blocks.

"Jack, I told you, we have to move back to Wisconsin!" a woman shouted from her second-story balcony, which was over the crack.

_San Francisco Cruise Ship Terminal, San Francisco, California_

"So this time, we hit Japan." Adrian's father, Harry said to his friend, Tony as they approached the cruise ship _Genesis_.

"So?" Tony said. "Well, you could visit your boy, Will." Harry replied. Harry saw Tony staring at a group of women he saw walking by.

"Are you even listening to me?" Harry asked. "Unfortunately, I am, Harry." Tony replied.

"I heard from Audrey that you're a grandpa now." Harry said. "Would you mind keeping your nose out of my family? You're cramping my style, man." Tony replied.

"So he married a Japanese girl. How is that the end of the world?" Harry asked. "Come on, Tony, you should at least go see him." Harry added.

"You see your boy?" Tony asked. "Not as much as I'd like to, D.C. is a long way, but at least we talk." Harry replied.

"About what?" Tony asked.

"Life, and how short it is." Harry replied.

Suddenly, the ship lurched and tilted as a strong wave pushed the ship into the pier. Harry and Tony stood wide eyed in disbelief as they watched the ship tilt.

The passengers in the lobby struggled to keep their balance as the ship righted itself. As suddenly as it began, it was over.

"What the hell was that?" Harry asked, stunned by what had just happened.

_Paris, France_

A woman was sleeping when the phone began to ring. "Hello?" the woman said as she answered the call.

"Laura, Laura, can you hear me?" a male voice said in French. "Roland, is that you?" Laura asked, also in French.

"Laura, they lied to us, I've arranged a press conference for tomorrow. I will tell everyone the truth about what's going on." Roland replied, he was in his car driving.

"What are you talking about?" Laura asked.

"The art you collected, it's not in the Alps, those tunnels are empty, I have proof!" Roland replied. He began driving into a tunnel and began losing the signal.

"Laura, Laura, can you hear me?" Roland asked. "I'm losing you. Roland?" Laura said.

"Laura, can you hear me?" Roland asked.

Suddenly, an explosion erupted from the rear of the car's bottom. The burning car flipped over onto its roof and skidded to a stop.

_Near Yellowstone National Park_

Robert was driving down the road while the kids were enjoying the sights. Edward was sitting in the passenger seat and Bella was sitting in the middle seat.

Suddenly, the music on the radio turned into static. "Aw, I like that song!" Edward said.

"We lost it." Robert replied as he changed the radio stations. He stopped upon reaching a station that was in the middle of a broadcast.

"- going on on the West Coast with those surface cracks, I told myself, 'Charlie, get your ass to Yellowstone.' I don't want to miss the fun when it finally blows." a voice said as the broadcast went on. Robert and the kids looked up upon hearing a noise and saw three HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters flying overhead.

"Let me tell you, there's been government people flying in and out all morning and trust me, they did not look one bit happy. Always remember, folks: You heard it first from Charlie." The voice said as the broadcast ended. "That's weird" Bella said as she watched the helicopters flying ahead.

"Yeah, just when he said that? What are the odds?" Robert said in a humorous tone.

Bella giggled at Robert's actions and Robert giggled with her.

_The White House, Washington D.C._

Dr. Helmsley and Carl were briefing President Wilson on their recent findings regarding the West Coast's recent increase in seismic activity.

"We're not seeing soil liquefaction we'd expect to find or any evidence of fracture propagation within the tectonic plates." Adrian explained.

"In English." Carl said.

"The activity on the West Coast is not caused by tecto- by regular earthquakes, and these so-called surface cracks have nothing to do with shifting fault lines." Adrian explained.

"Are you suggesting this could be the beginning of the Cho Ming operation?" President Wilson asked.

"Dr. Helmsley is flying to Yellowstone this morning to collect more data, sir but the situation-" Carl began to say before he was cut off.

"We have been following the schedule you established, Mr. Helmsley, the most important schedule in the history of mankind. Now you're telling me we have to throw it out?" President Wilson asked.

"Yes, sir, I was wrong." Adrian replied apologetically.

"Do you know how many times I've heard those words in this office? Zero." President Wilson replied.

Just then, Laura rushed in holding a newspaper. "Did you see this?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, she insisted." the secretary said.

"It's all over the news!" the president's daughter said as she set the newspaper onto her father's desk.

She then picked up a remote control and turned on the TV.

"We are learning more about this deadly car explosion. The director of the French National Museums was to hold a press conference at the Louvre this morning. Coincidentally, his death took place in the same Paris tunnel where Princess Diana died in 1997. We are continuing to follow this story, we will-" The newscast said before the TV was turned off.

"Laura, I don't believe you've met Dr. Helmsley." Laura's father said. Laura turned towards Adrian then back to her father.

"I just talked to him, Dad, and he told me that the organization that I work for is a sham. I mean, why would he say that?" Laura said in a worried tone.

"You look just like your mother when you get upset. Did I tell you that?" President Wilson said.

"Every time I get upset. Daddy, a man was killed." Laura replied.

"Honey, please sit down." President Wilson said. Laura sat down on a couch while her father pulled up a chair.

"Only a dozen people in this administration know what I'm about to tell you." President Wilson said.

"Daddy, what's going on?" Laura asked. Laura's father held her hands to give her comfort and calm her down.

"An unprecedented international endeavor is underway. At this point, 46 nations are invested in this thing." President Wilson said.

"Laura's a smart girl, she'll understand." Carl said as they walked through the hall.

"That thing in Paris, we're not involved in any of that, are we?" Adrian asked.

"We? Who the hell is "we"? What are you talking about?" Carl asked.

"What we need to do is focus on this time-line, that's what we need to do." Carl added. "When do we let the country know?" Adrian asked.

"What do you mean?" Carl asked. "The people, sir, they need to know." Adrian replied.

"Well, of course they do. Listen, your job is to figure out when this is all gonna fall apart. My job is to figure out how to retain some semblance of government after it falls apart. Until then, we don't have time for anything except for doing those jobs. Okay? Call me the moment you get any news from Yellowstone." Carl said.

"Yes, sir." Adrian replied. "Cute girl, huh?" Carl asked.

"Sir?" Adrian asked in confusion. "The First Daughter, I saw you looking at her." Carl replied.

"I wasn't looking at her." Adrian said in denial. "Better move fast, kid. The end is near." Carl replied as he walked away.

"Adrian, your chopper's ready. They're waiting on the South Lawn." Scotty said. Adrian began walking towards the South Lawn.

_Yellowstone National Park_

"Uncle bob, where are we going?" Bella asked as they walked through the woods.

"We're going to this really special place that I know. It's a place where your aunt and I used to hang out a lot." Robert replied.

Just then, they came upon a wire fence with "RESTRICTED AREA" signs mounted. "Uncle Robert, look at this!" Bella said as she approached the fence.

"This wasn't here before." Robert said in confusion as he and Edward approached the fence.

"Now what?" Edward asked. "Now, we do this." Robert replied as he climbed over the fence.

"Are you crazy?" Edward asked. "Nope, the special spot is somewhere on the other side." Robert replied as he helped the kids get over.

After getting past the fence, they walked on until they reached a flat area with a small pool of water in it.

"What the? There used to be a lake here." Robert said in disbelief. "Doesn't look like much of a lake to me." Edward replied.

"I know, the whole thing's gone." Robert replied. "Come on, let's check it out." Robert added as they walked towards the nearly-gone lake.

As they got closer, they noticed that there were surveying equipment (or equipment of some kind) set up on the water.

There were also small, white bubbles scattered on the surface, tiny white puffs being released with each popped bubble.

There were also a few dead, rotting carcases near the water's edge. "Ew." Bella said as she looked at the body of an elk lying on the lake bed.

Meanwhile, a man was looking at them through a pair of binoculars from behind a tree. He put down the binoculars and spoke into a device that seemed to be a recorder or radio transmitter.

"Subjects have now entered hot zone." he said as he looked on.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of rotor blades whipping the wind entered the ears of Robert and the two kids.

Seconds later, a UH-1 Huey helicopter and several Humvees appeared over the hill on the other side of the lake and approached the three.

"Who is that?" Bella asked. Robert stared in disbelief.

"That's the US Army." Robert quietly replied. The Humvees stopped near the lake and several soldiers got out and ran towards Robert and the kids.

Meanwhile, the mysterious man watched the action unfold through his binoculars. "All manner of government vehicles are converging on subjects." he said as he looked on.

"You're in a restricted area, sir. We need you and your family to come with us." one soldier said when they got to Robert.

"Right, Okay, we're gonna go with these guys. That'll be fun, huh?" Robert said trying to cheer the kids up. _I wish Irma was here!_ Robert thought as he and the kids walked with the soldiers.

"This is wild, this is really wild!" the mystery man said into the device as he watched what was happening.

Robert and the kids were driven in a Humvee towards what looked like some kind of command center.

The complex's dominant feature was a large rig that looked like some kind of drill burrowing into the ground.

_Mysterious complex, Yellowstone National Park_

"This is unbelievable, 2700 degrees Celsius at 40,000 feet?" Adrian asked. "I know, it sound completely implausible. Nonetheless, we're ticking off an increase of almost 0.5 percent." the scientist he was walking with replied.

"Per day?" Adrian asked.

"No, per hour!" the scientist replied.

"Dr. Helmsley, we've arrested a group of tourists in the hot zone." another scientist said.

"OK, I'll take care of it. Look let's get Satnam on the communications link. We'll try and cross-reference the data." Adrian replied.

Meanwhile, Robert was talking to one of the soldiers. "It's a national park, there's not supposed to be any posted fences, right? I mean, what's going on here?" Robert asked.

"We're geologists." Adrian said as he walked up. "Do you usually go digging with machine guns?" Robert asked.

"Major, I'll take care of this, thank you." Adrian replied. "So, what happened to the lake?" Robert asked.

"That's what we're trying to find out. We think the entire area has become unstable. I think you should take your kids and leave Mr. ...Lair." Adrian said as he checked Robert's driver's license.

"You're not by any chance the Robert Lair who wrote _Shadows of War_, are you?" Adrian asked.

"The very same." Robert replied.

Adrian laughed in surprise. "It's actually dedicated to my aunt." Bella said.

"That's great, I read a couple of your short stories when I was in college, yeah! You know, your father is a very talented man." Adrian said to the kids.

"Oh, he's actually our uncle." Edward replied. "Really?" Adrian asked.

"Yeah, my sister had me take them camping." Robert replied.

"It's amazing, I'm reading your book. I'm around Chapter 10, the last tour of duty for the squadron in the war!" Adrian said.

"You're one of the lucky many who bought it." Robert said. "Indeed I did!" Adrian replied. "Pleasure." Robert said as he shook Adrian's hand.

"It was a great pleasure meeting you." Adrian said before turning to the major. "Major, could you escort these good people to the campgrounds?" he said to the major.

"Thank you." Robert said. "Take care." Adrian said as he walked away.

"OK." Robert replied. "He was very nice." Bella said.

"Yeah, he was." Robert replied.

Five minutes later, Adrian had established a communications link with Satnam via web-cam-equipped laptops.

"Looks like that boy of yours is gonna be smarter than any of us." Adrian said as he watched Ajit playing chess.

Satnam had a worried look on his face and Adrian spotted this. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I sent Satnam the temperature reading." Adrian's colleague replied.

"My colleagues in Argentina and Ontario have almost identical data. It's so hot here we've had to seal off the mine." Satnam replied.

"You double-checked the numbers?" Adrian asked.

"Triple-checked, my friend. I wish we were wrong, but we're not. The Earth's crust is destabilizing." Satnam replied grimly.

Adrian was shocked by this. "It's too early." he said. "Adrian, you have to begin the evacuation." Satnam said.

"My God." Adrian said. "All our scientific advances, our fancy machines, the Mayans saw this coming thousands of years ago." Adrian's colleague said.

Adrian looked out the window at Robert and the kids. "I thought we'd have more time." he said as he watched Robert and the kids climb into a Humvee.

"Okay, I want you to pack up your family, I'm gonna arrange an airlift for you from Delhi." Adrian said to Satnam over the comm link.

"Thank you, my friend, and good luck." Satnam replied as the comm link was terminated. Satnam told Aparna to start getting ready. He then went to his son.

"Ajit, we're going on a big ship." he said.

_Yellowstone campgrounds_

_several minutes later_

Robert and the kids had just arrived at the campgrounds and started searching for a good spot. "That was so cool!" Edward said as the Humvee drove away.

"Yeah, that was intense." Robert replied. "And the helicopters were cool!" Edward added.

"That was the craziest place I've ever seen." Robert replied.

Just then, a man with long hair, dressed in winter gear jumped in front of them from behind a sign.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, sorry. One question: What did the government guys say to you?" the man asked Robert.

"Oh, umm, well, they don't like us going over their fences and that the whole area back there is unstable." Robert replied, bewildered by the man's sudden appearance.

"Unstable, they said 'unstable'?" the man asked.

"Yeah, unstable." Robert replied. The man broke into a laugh.

"That's funny." the man said as he continued laughing.

"Let's go. Have a good one." Robert said as he and the kids walked off.

_Yellowstone makeshift lab complex, that evening_

"It's not just Yellowstone, sir. Temperatures are increasing with incredible velocity in hot zones across the globe." Adrian said to Carl on his cell phone.

"Are you absolutely sure about this, Adrian? Because once we give these orders, there's no going back. You understand that?" Carl said.

"I'm afraid there's no longer any doubt, sir. We have to save what we can and we have to move now!" Adrian replied as he boarded a UH-1 Huey.

_Yellowstone campsite, that night_

Robert had already set up two tents: one for himself and one for the kids. Robert had built a bonfire in the nearby fire pit. The kids sat by the fire with him as they relaxed.

"Hey, you two wanna roast some marshmallows?" Robert asked.

"YEAH!" Edward and Bella said in unison.

Robert went up and got a bag of marshmallows and three skewers out of a container that was in the back of the truck.

He put a marshmallow on the end of each skewer and handed one to each of the kids.

He kept the third one for himself and all three of them positioned their marshmallows near the flames.

After a few seconds, the marshmallows were nearly black and they took them off of the skewers.

As they ate, Edward and Bella yawned. "You guys tired?" Robert asked. "Yeah, it's been a long day." Edward replied.

"Yeah, I'm sleepy." Bella added. "OK, let's get you ready for bed." Robert said as they went towards the tents.

The kids went into their tent and closed it up. As the kids went to sleep, Robert doused the fire and got ready for bed himself.

As he entered his tent, he heard a distant voice coming from just outside the campsite.

"We have a listener calling in, Bill from Cooke City, you're on the Charlie Frost Show." the voice said.

Just then, a different voice came on. "Charlie, just wanted to say I love your show." the other voice said.

Robert looked around and saw an RV parked on the next campsite over. He realized that the RV was being used as a mobile radio broadcasting center.

He also realized that it was the same voice that the man they saw earlier had!

"No way!" he said as he turned on his pocket radio and tuned it to the station he listened to earlier.

The voices were exactly the same and were occurring at the same time!

"-not afraid to tell the truth." the other voice said on the radio.

"Thank you, Bill. What is your question?" Charlie asked. "I wanted to know, where is all this gonna start?" Bill asked.

"Well, Bill, something like this can only originate in Hollywood, but seriously, they got the Earth cracking under their asses already." Charlie replied.

Robert got up and walked towards the RV. "Our family believes in the gospel of the Lord Jesus, we have nothing to fear, Charlie." Bill said.

"Good for you, thanks for calling." Charlie replied. Robert saw Charlie and recognized him as the man he and the kids saw earlier.

"This is Charlie Frost reporting live from Yellowstone National Park, soon to become the world's largest active volcano." Charlie said just before he spotted Robert near the RV.

"I'll be right back, folks." he added as he got up.

"Do you mind if I join you? I wanted to ask you something." Robert said.

"I only got a minute. What's up?" Charlie replied.

"I was listening to the broadcast and I was wondering, what exactly is it that's gonna start in Hollywood?" Robert asked.

"It's the apocalypse, End of Days, the Judgment Day, the end of the world, my friend. Christians called it the rapture, but the Mayans knew about it, the Hopis, the I Ching, the Bible, kind of." Charlie replied.

He then showed Robert a crude animation depicting the events that would occur.

The animation mentioned massive amounts of neutrinos being emitted by the sun, as well as a theory made by Professor Charles Hapgood in 1958, which he called "Earth Crust Displacement", a theory which was supported by Albert Einstein.

The theory stated that if unusual amounts of solar radiation heated the Earth's core enough, it would leave the crust free to shift.

It also stated that this would cause many disasters on a colossal scale all over the world.

"You have to keep a thing like this under wraps, I mean, think about it. First, the stock market would go, then the economy, boom! The dollar, boom! And then, pandemonium in the streets. War, genocide, boom, boom, boom!" Charlie said after the animation had ended.

"Bullshit, nobody could keep that big a secret, Charlie, somebody would blow the whistle." Robert said.

"Every once in a while, some poor sucker tries do do just that, well, like these guys, boom, boom!" Charlie replied as he pulled down a display of newspaper articles about recent, mysterious deaths of politicians, scientists and even, more recently, the head of the Louvre.

"Every one of these guys, dead, dead, dead." Charlie continued. Robert recognized one of the pictures right away.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, that's Professor Myers." Robert said.

"He ran the Atlantis space shuttle program. Why, did you know him?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, he helped me do some research for one of my short stories." Robert replied.

"Well, that must have been before his 'accident'." Charlie replied. "Meyers is dead?" Robert asked.

"Oh, yeah, two months ago. He was one of my most avid listeners and he had it all figured out: Everything the government was doing, where and why. He even sent me a map." Charlie said.

"A map for what, Charlie? What's the map for?" Robert asked. Charlie looked around to see if it was clear. "They're building spaceships, man." Charlie replied.

Robert was stunned by what he had just learned.

"Shit, man, I have to go because I have to get back to Earth, but I really enjoyed most of this, thank you so much." Robert said as he began to walk out.

"Hey, hey, guess what, they're selling seats." Charlie said. "Put me down for three." Robert replied.

"No, guys like you and me don't have a chance, you'd have to be Bill Gates or Hugh Hefner, or Rupert Murdoch or some Russian billionaire or something." Charlie replied rather loudly.

"Keep it down, my niece and nephew are sleeping." Robert said.

"Get them out of Yellowstone, it's gonna get ugly here!" Charlie replied.

_Heatherfield, California_

Cornelia and Caleb were shopping at the local supermarket. "Why don't we make a baby?" Caleb said as he wrapped his arms around Cornelia's waist.

Cornelia looked at him and chuckled. "We're not making a baby in the store, silly." she said.

"Okay, just an idea." Caleb replied. In the parking lot, a crack was opening up, setting off car alarms as it got closer to the store.

"It's nice to see that Irma and Robert are so happy together." Cornelia said as they went towards the cereal section.

"Yeah, after years of loneliness, she's finally happily married to her special someone." Caleb replied.

"Kinda reminds you of us, huh?" Cornelia asked. "Yeah, kinda." Caleb replied.

Meanwhile, the crack opened up in the floor as it got past the check-out area. Cornelia reached for a box of cereal and was shocked to see the boxes rock back and forth.

"Did you see that?" she asked. "Yeah, that was weird." Caleb replied.

"Well, it's probably nothing, like I would feel like if anything happened to you." Cornelia said.

"Yeah, well there's no need to worry about that, because nothing's ever going to pull us apart." Caleb replied.

Suddenly, the floor cracked right between them as the ground began to shake. "Caleb!" Cornelia called out as the crack widened.

"Hang on, hang on to the pole!" Caleb suggested as Cornelia grabbed a nearby pole and hung on for dear life.

"Cornelia, don't let go!" Caleb said. "Oh, my God!" Cornelia said as she struggled to keep her grip on the pole.

"Hang on!" Caleb said.

By the time it was over, the store was literally split in two, with the chasm ending up several feet wide.

_Yellowstone_

Robert and the kids were at a convenience store getting some snacks. Bella looked at the wall-mounted TV and recognized the woman being interviewed.

"I had to make a stop at the grocery store..." the woman said.

"Hey, look, it's Mrs. Vandom. She's my teacher, she's on TV!" Bella said in excitement. Robert and Edward went to take a look.

The picture then switched to a aerial view of the store, clearly showing the damage. There were cars in the chasm from the parking lot.

"Here is an aerial view of Greg's Market, which was open for business at the time, but fortunately, there were no fatalities or injuries reported. It really is a miracle the no one was hurt.

Just then, Edward's cell phone rang. "Hello? Oh, hi, Mom." Edward said as he answered the call.

"Did you see what happened to the store?" he asked. Edward's eyes widened as he heard Jennifer's response. He looked at Robert and Bella.

"She wants us to come home." he said.

_The White House, Washington, D.C._

"Is this even possible?" President Wilson asked as he walked with Carl.

"We worked through every option through the night. The good news, consensus is that four of the arks will be operational in time." Carl said.

"Only four? You call that good news?" President Wilson asked.

"We can save over 400,000 people, to me, sir, that's nothing short of a miracle, but we have to initiate the boarding process now. Thomas, we don't have a choice. You have got to convince them." Carl replied.

In the briefing room, Adrian was beginning his brief on the latest findings in Yellowstone.

"I'll try to keep this brief. According to the latest information from Yellowsto-" Adrian began as Carl and President Wilson entered the room.

"Please continue, Adrian." President Wilson said. "Thank you, sir." Adrian replied.

"The temperature of the subterranean crust, that is, the cement that holds our land mass in place is increasing at a rapid rate, much faster that we anticipated.

As a result, we've observed extreme polar instability. The magnetic fields have decreased by more than 80 percent in the last 48 hours." Adrian continued.

"How much time do we have, Dr. Helmsley?" the German head of state said via comm link.

"Two, maybe three days, if we're lucky." Adrian replied.

"How can you speak about luck in such a situation?" the Italian prime minister asked.

"Apologies, Mr. Prime Minister, I, I meant no disrespect." Adrian replied.

"I'm afraid the longer we wait, the more luck plays its part." President Wilson added.

"My friends, I recommend we evacuate immediately. If any of you have any objections, please speak now." President Wilson said.

_Heatherfield, California_

"Caltech believes that the half-mile fissure running through Sheffield has released most of the surface tension. 'Life in the city will soon return to normal,' Mayor Gonzales said at an early news conference." the radio news report said as Robert drove down the freeway towards downtown Heatherfield.

The sun was starting to rise. "Okay, guys, almost home." Robert said as the kids woke up.

Ten minutes later, he pulled up in front of Jennifer's house. Robert and the kids got out and walked towards the house.

Jennifer came outside and was relieved to see her kids were safe.

"Thank God." she said as her kids rushed towards her.

"Mommy!" Bella said as she reached Jennifer.

"Hi, sweetheart." Jennifer said as she hugged her daughter.

"Daddy!" Edward said as he rushed towards his father, Alex, and hugged him.

"Did you have a good time?" Alex asked. "Yeah, we had fun." Edward replied.

"Hey, we're coming over in a few hours!" Jennifer called out to Robert.

"Great, can't wait!" Robert replied.

Robert smiled as he drove off. He decided to go to the airport to clear his mind. He arrived at the airport a half-hour later and found a place to park.

Two hours later, Jennifer, Alex and the kids got ready for their visit to Irma.

"How long are we going to be there?" Bella asked. "We're going to be there all day." Jennifer replied.

"I heard that Cornelia and Caleb are going to be there as well." Alex said. "I like Cornelia, she's cool." Edward replied.

They got into Jennifer's car and drove off towards Irma and Robert's house. "Aunt Irma!" Edward said as he rushed towards Irma.

"Hey, it's great to see you again!" Irma replied. "Hey, Irma, how have you been?" Jennifer asked as she hugged Irma.

"I've been great, hey, where's Robert?" Irma asked. "He said he was going to the airport for a bit." Jennifer replied.

"Ah, I see, he always goes there when he wants to get the edge off." Irma replied.

"Yeah, we all know how he loves watching aircraft." Jennifer replied.

"Hey, Jennifer, what's up?" Cornelia asked. "Not much, Robert just got back from taking my kids camping in Yellowstone." Jennifer replied.

Meanwhile, Robert had just finished watching planes take off and land. He started the engine of his truck when he heard Charlie's voice on the radio.

"Folks, did you hear that? The authorities in L.A. say there's nothing to worry about. I'd love to see their dumb faces when Malibu and Beverly Hills get sucked into the gurgling maw of the Pacific. Where are they gonna plug in their electric cars then? Ha, ha, ha!" Charlie said.

Robert felt the ground shake and got out to see a small crack under his truck. He got back out and rushed to a nearby hangar where a friend was working on a Cessna C208B Grand Caravan single-engined plane.

"Martin, I need your plane." Robert said.. "For what, what's going on?" Martin asked.

"California's about to go down, I'm getting my wife and friends out of here while I still can!" Robert replied.

"Okay, but where are you going now?" Martin asked. "To get them, I'll be back soon!" Robert replied as he rushed to his truck and started to make his way back home.

Meanwhile, the others were relaxing at Irma's house.

"I confirmed with my people at Caltech that in the last 36 hours we had basically zero earthquake activity in Southern California, which is very rare." the governor was saying at a press conference.


	3. California goes down

Chapter 3

California Goes Down

_Heatherfield, California_

_December 21, 2012, 9:00 AM_

Irma was at her house with Elyon, Cornelia, Caleb, Edward, Bella, Alex and Jennifer.

Robert was in his truck rushing back to his house where Irma and the others were waiting for his arrival.

After hearing the warning from Charlie in Yellowstone, he was desperate to get them out of California.

He picked up his cell phone and dialed Irma's number. "Hello?" Irma said as she answered.

"Irma, stop what you're doing, we need to get everyone out of there now! Listen to me, I've rented a plane, I'm gonna be there in five minutes." Robert replied.

"A plane? What? Why? I thought we were gonna spend some time with the others? Cornelia, Caleb, Elyon, Jennifer and the kids, they're all here and we're waiting for you." Irma replied, wondering about Robert's intentions.

"Irma, California is going down! We gotta leave now!" Robert replied with an urgent tone.

"Yeah, I don't think so, the governor just said that everything's OK." Irma replied in a disbelieving tone.

"The man's an actor, he's reading a pre-written script! It's always the same thing every time! Whenever they say that's it's over and they tell you not to panic, and they say that everything's going to be okay, THAT'S WHEN YOU RUN!" Robert replied as he got close to the house.

"I'll see you in a bit, hopefully, you'll be a bit more calm, bye." Irma replied as she hung up.

"What's gotten into Robert all of a sudden?" Elyon asked. "I don't know, he's normally never like this." Irma replied.

They continued watching the program in which the governor had just said that the worst was over.

Suddenly, just as he had said that, as if on a cue, the house and everything around it began shaking violently. "SHIT!" Irma shouted as she and the others dove under the table.

Just as the shaking started, Robert pulled up in front of the house. He rushed in, trying not to lose his balance from the shaking.

He opened the door and rushed to the table where Irma and the others were crouched. "COME ON, GET IN THE VAN! WE GOTTA GO" Robert shouted as debris fell around them.

"I THINK IT'S SAFER UNDER HERE!" Jennifer replied. Robert knew that staying put was a bad idea. "GET IN THE FUCKING VAN, NOW!" Robert shouted.

Irma and the others rushed out and followed Robert to Irma's minivan.

Irma got in the passenger seat while the others got in back. Once they were in, Robert sped off, just as all of the houses around them, including him and Irma's, were collapsing into piles of rubble.

Robert rushed down the cracking road, avoiding debris and parked cars. Behind the van, the ground literally rose up and collapsed, destroying everything on it as a massive chasm began to open up.

In front, the pavement cracked and split in some places, and huge slabs rose up, forcing Robert to drive through the front yards of several houses.

"HOLY SHIT!" Elyon exclaimed as she watched the carnage unfolding around them. "ROBERT, PUNCH IT, LOOK BEHIND YOU!" Irma shouted.

Robert looked in the mirror and saw what was happening behind them.

Suddenly, the road ahead went into a sharp incline. "HOLD ON!" Robert shouted as the van went over the incline and was airborne.

Everyone grunted as the van landed. "WHERE DO WE GO NOW!" Jennifer asked. "WE HAVE TO GET TO THE AIRPORT!" Robert replied.

"WE SHOULD TAKE THE FREEWAY, IT'LL BE HALF THE TIME!" Cornelia replied. Robert saw the I-5 freeway collapsing in some places.

"DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THAT'S HAPPENING!" Alex said.

"HANG ON, EVERYONE, WE GOTTA GET TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FREEWAY!" Robert yelled as he floored the accelerator, skillfully dodging falling cars.

Everyone screamed as Robert sped under the collapsing freeway overpass. The roof of the van scraped against the bottom of the massive roadway as they barely made it out.

He swerved just in time to avoid a cement mixer that rolled off of the collapsing freeway and into a gas station, both erupting in a huge explosion.

As they approached the area near the airport, they had to dodge toppling high-rise towers near downtown. "HANG ON!" Robert shouted as he sped into the glass window of a collapsing tower.

"OH MY GOD!" Irma yelled as Robert drove through, skillfully avoiding crumbling support columns and raced towards the other side. After bursting through the window on the other side and dropping four feet, the van landed on all four wheels and kept going.

Meanwhile, Adrian and his colleagues were monitoring the situation. "It's been upgraded to a 10.9 by the guys at Harvard." Scotty said.

"What do the guys at Caltech have to say?" Adrian asked. "The whole city of Pasadena was wiped out just a few minutes ago. This is just coming in live from Coachella Valley out near Joshua Tree. That huge canyon? That wasn't there this morning, and 400 miles further north, Point Reyes, same thing." Adrian's assistant said as he showed Adrian the satellite data of the stricken areas.

"The San Andreas Fault is shifting." Adrian said in realization. "Yes, and all major sister faults in the Bay Area, the whole Pacific plate is destabilizing." Adrian's assistant replied.

Eventually, Robert and the others reached the airport and rushed out of the now-beat-up van. They ran up to the flightline and went up to the fueling area.

"WHO'S THAT? IS THAT MARTIN?" Irma asked as they found a body near the fuel pumps. "YEAH, HE'S OUR PILOT!" Robert replied when he recognized the body.

"NOW WHAT? THE CITY'S CRUMBLING AROUND US!" Cornelia replied. "Wait, you can fly us out, can't you?" Jennifer asked.

"Yeah, can you fly that?" Elyon added. Robert turned around and saw the Cessna Grand Caravan.

"Yeah, I can!" Robert replied as he grabbed the keys that were lying on the tarmac next to Martin's body.

"Come on kids, your uncle is gonna get us out of here!" Jennifer said as she and her kids rushed towards the plane behind Elyon.

Robert and Irma got into the cockpit and the others rushed into the cabin. Robert got the plane started and lowered the flaps to takeoff position.

"Uh, Robert, you better hurry!" Cornelia said as she looked out the window and saw the massive chasm approaching the end of the runway.

"OK, HANG ON!" Robert said as he pinned the throttle.

The plane began to run down the runway as the chasm reached the runway. "C'mon, hurry!" Elyon said as the chasm got closer.

"Come on, Robert, take off!" Cornelia said. "We have to get to at least 85 knots!" Robert replied.

"80's good, 80's good, just get us up!" Irma replied. "Fuck it, here we go!" Robert said as he pulled the control yoke towards him.

The runway collapsed under them as the plane began to go into a shallow dive.

Everyone screamed (mostly the girls) as they found themselves flying _in_ the chasm!

"C'mon, C'MON!" Robert said as he struggled to get the plane into a climb.

"Higher, higher!" Elyon said as Robert tried to build up airspeed in order to climb. He managed to avoid a subway train that had come out of the tunnel in front of the plane's flight path.

The train slammed into a gas storage facility and exploded behind the plane.

Robert managed to avoid hitting the street below and at one point was just inches from hitting cars as he managed to start gaining altitude.

Bella covered her eyes as she saw cars and people falling into oblivion from the collapsing street. Robert flew out of the chasm and into the sky.

There was just one obstacle left: the downtown high-rises that were falling right in front if them.

Everyone held on for dear life as Robert maneuvered between the crumbling buildings. Cornelia watched in horror as she saw people falling from several floors of one building.

Robert barely managed to avoid being hit by one of the towers as it toppled over.

Finally, they breathed sighs of relief as they ended up in open skies. "Bella, go sit with your brother." Jennifer said. Bella went to sit with Edward and cried on his shoulder.

"Cornelia, are you alright?" Caleb asked. Cornelia fell into Caleb's arms sobbing. "Oh my god, I've never been so scared!" Cornelia replied as she wrapped her arms around Caleb.

"It's all right, we're safe now." Caleb replied.

Irma looked at Robert in disbelief. "I don't understand, how did you know that this was going to happen?" Irma asked.

"It's not just California, the whole damn world is going to shit! I met this guy in Yellowstone, this crazy guy, but he's been right about everything that's happened so far, and he said that the government is building some kind of ships, spaceships, I don't know what, but something." Robert replied.

"Ships?" Elyon asked. "Yeah, places where we can be safe, he knows where they are, he's got a map." Robert added.

"Robert, that sounds crazy!" Irma said.

"Irma, you gotta trust me on this, okay?" Robert replied.

"Guys, look." Caleb said as he pointed out the window.

Robert and the others looked and were horrified by what they saw: Heatherfield had literally split apart and the huge masses of land were sinking into the ocean like a modern Atlantis!

Robert noticed that tears were building up in Irma's eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

"What? Oh, I...I was thinking about our other friends, the ones that didn't make it: Martin, Will, Hay Lin, Taranee, Erin, Alchemy, their families. I can't believe that this happened!" Irma replied as she started to cry.

"Hey, at least we made it out. That's what they would have wanted." Robert replied as he wrapped his arm around Irma to comfort her.

Elyon cried at the thought of her other friends dying in the massive super-quake. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, come here." Jennifer said as she hugged Elyon.

_Cruise ship "Genesis" in the Sea of Japan_

Harry and Tony had just finished performing a jazz show. "Harry, there's a call for you, you want me to take a message?" one of the ship's employees asked.

"No, that's all right, Kevin, I got it." Harry replied. Kevin led Harry into one of the galleys where the phone was active.

"Hello." Harry said. "Dad" Adrian replied. "Adrian." Harry joyfully responded. "Remember when I told you about that dam in China?" Adrian asked.

"Yeah, Harry replied. "It's happening, Dad." Adrian replied. "They'd probably shoot me if they knew that I told you." Adrian added.

"Nobody's gonna shoot you, son. They need you." Harry replied.

"The president has ordered us to clear out the White House." Adrian replied.

"About time somebody cleaned up that mess." Harry said jokingly. "Where are you, Dad? What exactly is the course of the _Genesis_ right now?" Adrian asked.

"It's all good, Adrian, don't you be worrying about your old man now. You got more important things to do now. Now you lookie here, the Genesis is a pretty big ship, son, so don't you write your old man off just yet. Besides, you know I couldn't leave Tony alone. You know that old fool can't keep decent time by himself." Harry replied.

"I love you, Dad" Adrian said.

"I love you too, son." Harry replied tearfully as they hung up.


	4. Yellowstone blows

Chapter 4: Yellowstone Blows

_Yellowstone, five hours after the destruction of Heatherfield_

Robert passed over the lab facility and landed on the nearby airstrip. Robert then opened the door as the plane slowed to a safe speed.

"Robert, what are you doing?" Irma asked in shock as Robert climbed out. "Gotta go." Robert replied.

Irma took over applying the brakes to stop the plane.

Robert rushed over to the nearby fuel pumps and checked them as Irma shut down the engine.

"Anything?" she asked. "Yeah, there's fuel, fill it up, I'm gonna go find Charlie." Robert replied.

"I'm going with you." Elyon said as she rushed to catch up with Robert. "So am I!" Alex added as he did the same.

"OK, we'll be back." Robert said. "Robert hurry, please." Irma replied as she put the fuel hose into the receptacle on the plane.

Robert, Alex and Elyon eventually found Charlie's RV and rushed towards it.

"I'm standing here at the highest point of what is the rim of the world's largest super-volcano: Mount Bighorn, elevation 2779 feet." Charlie said on his broadcast.

"Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!" Robert called out as he ran into the RV. He was puzzled to find that Charlie was nowhere to be found.

"I can only hope that all of you have made your peace with God." Charlie's voice said. "He's gotta be around somewhere." Robert said as he looked around.

"We should go back." Elyon said. "No, we gotta find Charlie because he's got the map to the ships." Robert replied as he hopped into the driver's seat and found the keys in the ignition.

"Call Irma and tell her we're gonna be five minutes late." Robert added. Elyon made the call as Robert started up the RV's engine.

Meanwhile, Irma had just lined the plane up for the takeoff when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Irma said. "Irma, It's Elyon!" Elyon replied.

"Elyon, where are you?" Irma asked. "In an RV, Robert's trying to find What's-his-name." Elyon replied.

"Any minute now, the fireworks are gonna start." Charlie's voice said. "Who is that? Who's speaking in the RV?" Irma asked.

"He's not in the RV, he's on a mountain waiting for some kind of fireworks, I don't know." Elyon replied. "Fireworks? What fireworks?" Irma asked, confused.

"How the hell should I know?" Elyon replied.

"Robert, over there!" Elyon said as she pointed to the mountain that she saw someone standing on.

"-to send all of Yellowstone into outer space?" Charlie's voice said.

Robert and Alex looked and saw Charlie standing on top of the mountain. "Well, spotted, Elyon!" Robert said as he turned towards the mountain.

"Let me talk to Irma." Robert said as Elyon handed him her phone. "Irma, we found him." Robert reported.

"Robert, please, for the love of God, hurry!" Irma replied. Robert parked at the end of the road on top of the mountain.

"-your race, your country, your god. Whether you're a Christian or a Buddhist or Muslim or Rastafarian, by tomorrow we will all be one!" Charlie said as Robert rushed towards him.

"Charlie!" Robert said as he got to Charlie.

"Robert, what are you doing here? I thought you were toast!" Charlie said.

"No, where are the spaceships?" Robert asked. "There's no way you can make it there." Charlie replied.

"We have a plane, you could come with us, but we gotta leave right now." Robert replied.

Suddenly, every bird in the area rushed into the air at once, as if they were escaping an imminent danger.

"Fly, birdies, fly!" Charlie said in a crazy voice. "Is this your girl?" Charlie asked. Robert looked and saw Elyon standing nearby.

"No, she's a friend of mine, where's the goddamn map!" Robert asked, shaking Charlie up as he did so. "We're going live." Charlie said.

"Where is it? Charlie, focus, where's the frigging map!" Robert asked, clearly frustrated. "It's in the camper." Charlie replied.

"Where in the camper?" Robert asked.

"In the map section on the conspiracy shelf. Dewey decimal system, between Roswell and...Marilyn Monroe." Charlie replied.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble deeply. Robert and Charlie turned their heads towards the park and saw that the ground was literally bulging and swelling in several places.

"It's starting." Charlie said.

As the ground continued to swell, a geyser exploded in a large burst of steam. Elyon's face had a look of sheer terror as she saw what was happening.

"You sure you don't wanna come with, man?" Robert asked.

"It's so beautiful, I'm gonna stay." Charlie said, a crazy smile on his face.

"Good luck." Robert said as he turned to leave. _Fucker's lost his mind! _Robert thought as he and Elyon rushed back to the RV, where Alex was waiting.

"This marks the last day of the United States of America, and by tomorrow, all of mankind, and we will be visible from the Milky Way as a tiny little puff of smoke." Charlie said as the swelling continued and more gas pockets and geyser vents exploded.

Robert and Elyon had just gotten into the RV. "I'm watching the earth crumble before my eyes." Charlie said as Robert started the engine and floored it away from the area.

By this time, the ground had swollen hundreds of feet high, and hot molten rock was bursting out of weak points.

"The giant ash cloud created by this super-volcano will first envelop Vegas, and then St. Louis, and then Chicago, and then, at long last, Washington D.C. will have its lights go out." Charlie's voice continued.

Elyon was shocked by what she was hearing. "That guy's lost it, hasn't he?" Elyon asked. "I don't think so." Robert replied.

Suddenly, the massive bulge erupted with a bright flash and a loud _BOOM_ as a huge fireball burst into the sky.

At the airstrip, Irma and the others watched in horror as the fireball grew, shock waves blowing away nearby clouds.

"Uh, Robert, what the hell was that?" Elyon asked. Robert looked and saw the massive cloud in the rear-view mirror.

"You don't want to know!" Robert replied. "Oh, shit!" Alex said when he saw the fireball in the mirror.

"I have goose bumps, people." Charlie said as the explosion rocked the area.

The shockwave smashed trees down and blew Charlie several feet backwards. The shockwave reached the airstrip as a strong wind gust.

"Oh, no!" Irma said as she and the others looked on. The gigantic cloud of ash and flame turned into a massive pyroclastic surge as flaming debris rained down from above.

"I wish you could be seeing what I'm seeing, people. I wish you could be here with me!" Charlie said as he got back onto his feet.

"Oh, baby, ha ha! Bring it on! Always remember, folks, you heard it first from Charlie!" Charlie said just before a house-sized piece of debris landed on top of him, killing him instantly.

Meanwhile, Robert was skillfully dodging the rain of fireballs by anticipating their points of impact.

"It's getting closer!" Elyon said. "I know, just hold on!" Robert replied.

Suddenly, a fireball landed just in front of the RV, forcing Robert to swerve sharply to avoid the impact.

"Hang on, I'll get us out of here!" Robert said.

Suddenly, another fireball struck the back of the RV, destroying the back quarter of the vehicle.

"SHIT!" Robert said as he looked back and saw the damage. "That doesn't look good!" Elyon said.

Irma watched as the damaged RV approached the airstrip, fireballs raining down all around it and the surrounding area.

"There it is, there they are!" Robert said as he got the airstrip in sight. Robert honked the horn to get their attention.

"IT'S THEM! IT'S THEM! IT'S THEM!" Irma said in relief as she saw the RV getting close and recognized the driver.

"Irma!" Elyon said in relief as she spotted her.

Suddenly, the ground in front of the RV cracked open. "Oh no!" Elyon said. "HANG ON!" Robert said as he floored the accelerator.

"HOLY FUUUCK!" Alex yelled as the RV hit an incline and jumped the gap. The landing damaged the suspension as the RV slid to a stop.

Robert rushed to find the map as Alex kicked the RV door open. Irma rushed over and hugged Elyon after she got out.

"Oh, my God, are you OK, Ellie?" Irma asked. "Yeah, I'm fine, Robert's getting the map." Elyon replied.

Irma, Alex and Elyon rushed into the plane as Robert searched the shelf for the maps section.

"Roswell, Marilyn Monroe...maps, aha!" Robert said as he grabbed all of the maps and rushed out.

Irma stuck her head out the doorway on the plane and watched for Robert. "Robert, come on!" she called out.

Just as Robert got out, a fireball hit the edge of the fissure, causing the RV to fall in. Robert rushed into the plane, where Irma had already started the engine.

Robert got into the pilot's seat and pinned the throttle. After getting airborne, Robert skimmed over a nearby hill and avoided more fireballs.

"Oh, no, the ash cloud's getting closer!" Cornelia said. Robert raised the flaps and leveled the nose to accelerate.

The ash cloud was almost upon them when the momentum died down enough for the plane to out run it. "Okay, we're good! We're good, we're okay!" Robert said as they climbed away.

Irma looked at Robert with a "What the fuck were you thinking?" expression.

"So, now that you got your map, where are we going?" she asked. Robert opened the map and upon looking at it, realized that it was a map of China, with the location of the supposed "spaceships" marked out.

He put the map down and looked at the others. "We're gonna need a bigger plane." he said. The others looked at him with "Are you serious?" expressions.

_Washington D.C., that night..._

Carl was on the phone with his mother in the White House. "No, you just said that, Mom. Yeah, you just said that. You don't remember that you just said that? That's okay, that's okay. Listen, Ma, I am going to call you next week, same time, okay? You take care now, take care of yourself." he said as the call ended.

"Sir?" Adrian said. Carl turned to look at him. "I think you need to see this." Adrian said as he walked with Adrian.

"I thought for sure they'd give you an extra ticket, sir." Adrian said.

"They did, but my mother is almost 89, she's in a wheelchair, and she's easily confused, and I am confident that she would want to meet her maker on her own terms, OK?" Carl replied.

"Yes, sir. Who are you bringing?" Adrian asked.

"Nobody. Who, my ex-wife? Last thing she said to me she never wanted to see me again, so be it. We need to bring people who can contribute." Carl replied.

Adrian led Carl to a room where a news report was covering a story regarding disasters in South America.

"The South American continent had been ravaged by a series of major earthquakes. The death toll is expected to be well over 2 million people. The devastation in Rio de Janeiro is beyond imagination. Two 8.5 tremors have left the people in the streets desperately fighting for the last remaining resources. In the last hour, we received this video from Globo New, Brazil." the reporter said.

The screen then showed a video clip of the giant statue of Jesus collapsing during one of the quakes.

"Fear and chaos have spread throughout the globe, as in London, where the 30th Olympic Games have just been suspended. Hundreds of thousands are marching towards 10 Downing Street demanding a lift of the information blackout proposed by the Prime Minister." the reporter continued.

"We've had thousands of calls on the switchboards, we had to shut it down." Adrian said.

"We're receiving reports from all across the globe, millions upon millions of distraught masses are gathering in public places, converging in desperate prayer. Preachers of many religious denominations have taken their message of the end of the world to the streets all over the U.S." the reporter said.

"Kind of galling when you realize that nutbags with their cardboard signs had it right the whole time." Carl said.

"All these people out there, sir. Shouldn't we be issuing warnings now?" Adrian asked.

"Only when the boarding process is complete. That's the plan. British Columbia, 2010, remember?" Carl replied.

"Sir, those plans were drawn up two years ago. Okay, everybody out. Go on, get out, Mary, get the door." Adrian said. Everyone other than Adrian and Carl left the room.

"Wasn't it also decided that people have the right to fight for their lives best way they can?" Adrian asked, clearly frustrated.

"After we get everyone on board, Adrian." Carl replied. "I think that's wrong." Adrian replied.

"Wha-? Just wanna tell everyone they're doomed? There'd be anarchy. You wanna jeopardize the president?" Carl replied.

"Come on." Adrian said.

"Our mission is to assure the continuity of our species. My question: Can I count on you? Can I?" Carl asked.

Just then, Adrian's partner arrived. "What?" Carl asked. "The Yellowstone caldera has erupted, sir. The ash cloud will reach Washington in roughly seven hours." he said.

"We've got to get the government airborne." Carl replied as he walked away.

"Where's the president, Sally?" he asked.

"Said he wanted some time alone. I think he's over at the chapel." Sally replied.

"He's gotta go to church now?" Carl asked. "He's praying, sir, which, under the circumstances, is not such a bad idea." Sally replied.

Carl went to the chapel and saw President Wilson at one of the pews praying.

"Mr. President, I need to get you on Air Force One immediately." Carl said. President Wilson turned and looked at them.

"Give me a moment with Adrian." he said. "No disrespect, but we simply do not have time." Carl replied.

"Make time." President Wilson replied. Carl walked out of the room as Adrian walked in.

The Secret Service agents that were with them closed the doors behind Adrian. "Did you ever meet my wife, Dorothy?" Wilson asked.

"No, sir. I didn't have that honor." Adrian replied

"She was in and out of it towards the end. The night before she passed on, she took my hand and she told me: 'I think you should have a lottery. Everyone should have a chance to go.' Maybe that's what we should have done. I'll be the last president of the United States of America. Do you know how that feels, son?" President Wilson said.

"No one could have saved the country, sir, and I think, I think people have a right to know." Adrian replied.

Wilson nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, I'll take care of that. Go on now." he said.

"Not without you, sir." Adrian replied.

"You get on that plane, son; it's a brave new world you're heading to, and a young scientist is going to be worth 20 old politicians." Wilson replied.


	5. Leaving for China

Chapter 5

Leaving for China

_Las Vegas, several hours later_

The Cessna that Robert and the others were flying swooped in low over the remains of the Vegas Strip.

A massive chasm at least a half-mile wide had opened up through the Strip. Robert continued on until they reached McCarran International Airport.

After landing, they noticed that the tarmac was in chaos as a result of the quake that had struck the area.

After they got out, they heard an announcement over the loudspeakers: "Attention, the National Guard has informed us that an extremely hazardous ash cloud is headed for Las Vegas. Everyone move indoors immediately." the announcement stated.

All at once, everyone on the tarmac, including Robert and the others, raced for the terminal.

_On board Air Force One, Situation Room._

"So you have positive confirmation on this? Thank you, I understand." Carl said as he ended a call on his cell phone.

Adrian then entered the room. "President's not coming." he said grimly. At those words, everyone turned to look at him.

"So, the captain doesn't want to abandon his sinking ship. That's his choice, and a noble one. I have also just learned that the vice-president's chopper went down in the ash cloud outside of Pittsburgh. Fortunately, we have protocols to follow." Carl announced.

"What about the Speaker of the House?" Adrian asked. "I have no idea. Where is he?" Carl replied.

"He's the commander in chief now, sir." Adrian replied.

"I don't know what to tell you, this is one flight he shouldn't have been late for. Tell the captain we're taking off." Carl replied.

"Sir, you don't have the authority." Adrian yelled.

"Who's got the authority? You've got the authority? You couldn't even keep your goddamn mouth shut! You betrayed top-secret information last year and could have had us all killed." Carl said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Adrian replied.

"You told your father everything, put this entire plan in jeopardy. Good thing for you the old man could keep his mouth shut better than you. Oh, come on, don't look so shocked, we had to monitor everybody who knew. How do you think we kept it a secret for so long?" Carl said.

"So we just killed anybody who tried to talk?" Adrian asked, angered. "Anybody who tried to talk was not just an enemy of the state, they're an enemy of humanity." Adrian replied.

"The director of the Louvre was an enemy of humanity!" Adrian replied, enraged.

"After he called a press conference, he was! Jesus, what did you think? We're all just gonna get on board, hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya'? Sit down and buckle up!" Carl replied, ending the argument.

Laura got up from her seat and looked around to see an Air Force technical sergeant walking by.

"Oh, excuse me, is my father in the command center?" she asked. "President's on the line, Dr. Wilson." the technical sergeant replied.

"Thank you." Laura replied. Her heart sank as she picked up the phone.

"Where are you?" she asked. "You never would have gotten on that plane if I told you." President Wilson replied.

"But, you said that you'd be-" Laura began before she was cut off. 'Darling, listen to me. Do you understand how much strength it gives me knowing that you'll survive? The only thing left to do now is tell the truth to people. At least if they know, families can say goodbye to each other. A mother could comfort her children, and a father can ask his daughter for forgiveness." Wilson said.

Laura sobbed as tears streaked down her face. "Whenever you're ready, Mr. President." Sally said.

President Wilson then prepared to address the people. "My fellow Americans, this will be the last time I address you. As you know, catastrophe has struck our nation, has struck the world. I wish I could tell you that we could prevent the coming destruction, we cannot. Today, none of us are strangers. Today, we are one family stepping into the darkness together. We are a nation of many religions, but I believe these words reflect the spirit of all of our faiths: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall-" The president's address was cut off as broadcasting stations went dead.

Robert and the others were watching the presidential address in the terminal when it was cut off. "People! Keep away from the doors and windows!" a firefighter instructed.

"What are we gonna do? Where are we gonna go?" Cornelia asked.

Just then, a familiar voice called out for them. Robert and the others looked to see Taranee standing several feet away. "TARANEE!" Irma, Cornelia and Elyon shouted as they ran towards her.

Irma was in tears by the time she hugged Taranee. " I'm so glad to see you again! I thought you all were dead!" Taranee said as everyone composed themselves over their excitement.

"We thought the same thing about you, Will and all them!" Cornelia replied.

"Last time I heard from you guys, you were still in Heatherfield, and then I heard about what happened and, how did you all get out?" Taranee asked, still shocked yet glad to see most of her friends still alive.

"Robert here flew us out in a Cessna." Elyon replied.

"Hey, have you heard anything about Will, or Hay Lin, or anybody else?" Cornelia asked. "I did, they're all dead." Taranee replied as she started to cry.

"Hey, it's OK, at least we're still alive. That's what matters, that's what they would have wanted: for us to survive." Irma said as she comforted Taranee.

Just then, a voice called out for Taranee. "Over here!" Taranee yelled.

Seconds later, Nigel ran up to them. "Good to see you all made it, too!" he said.

"Yeah, but we wouldn't have made it out without Robert, he's the one who flew us out." Caleb replied.

"You can fly?" Nigel asked. "Yeah, I definitely can; I told you I'm a hell of a pilot." Robert replied.

Irma and the others explained their plan to get to the safe area in China. "How are we going to get there?" Taranee asked.

"I have an idea, there's a fully fueled 767 parked at a gate near here. I can fly it, but I'll need a co-pilot." Nigel said.

"I'll do it, besides, you and I are the only ones who can, so I pretty much have no option." Robert replied.

"Okay, let's do it!" Irma said. They rushed out towards the flightline.

"Hey! Hey, stop! You can't go out there, come back!" a firefighter shouted as Robert and the others rushed towards the aircraft.

They reached the ramp where the aircraft was parked, it was a Continental Airlines 767, fully fueled and ready to fly.

"This will work, I flew all the way to Japan in one of these." Robert said as they went up the boarding stairs and into the cabin.

Robert followed Nigel into the cockpit while the others took seats in the first class section. Nigel began turning on the systems while Robert began the start-up process.

Robert the turned on the radios and navigation system. "Tower to Continental 2464 heavy, what the hell are you doing? Shut down immediately!" the tower controller said.

The plane taxied out to the nearest runway, running over the boarding stairs in the process, as Robert turned on the seatbelt sign (force of habit). Robert lowered the flaps to takeoff position while Nigel pushed the thrust levers to full power.

"Continental 2464 heavy, abort takeoff, you do not have clearance!" the ATC said. "Fuck the clearance, we're out of here!" Robert said as the plane began to pick up speed.

"You must abort, I repeat, you must abort, you- NOO!" the ATC continued saying until the ash cloud destroyed the tower.

Suddenly, the plane jolted as it hit a damaged section of the runway. "What the hell was that?" Robert asked. I don't know, but it's not good!" Nigel replied.

They were horrified to see that part of the runway had fallen into the chasm. Hang on!" Nigel said as the plane went over the edge at 135 knots.

"We're going down, we're going down!" Robert said. The plane finally got enough airspeed to start climbing into the air.

"Hang on, everyone!" Nigel said over the intercom as the others held on.

Robert and Nigel both pulled on the control yokes to raise the nose, just in time to fly between the collapsing Mirage hotel towers.

"SHIT!" Robert yelled as the plane made it with just a few feet to spare. Robert also managed to avoid flying into the Bellagio as it crumbled, passing over the roof with just inches to spare.

After skimming past the Eiffel Tower of the Paris Casino, they were finally in open skies.

"Whew, that was close!" Nigel said. "Yeah, we're out of that one." Robert replied.

"Hey, everyone, we're on our way to China." Nigel said over the intercom as he continued to climb and Robert raised the gear and flaps.

_7 hours later..._

The 767 was over the Central Pacific, near Hawaii. Irma was sitting in the left seat of the center column of seats, Bella was sitting in the right seat of the same column, and Jennifer was sitting between them. Cornelia and Caleb were sitting in the leftmost column of seats, in the same row, Cornelia in the window seat, and Caleb in the aisle seat.

Taranee and Elyon were in the same row, on the right side of the plane, with Taranee in the aisle seat and Elyon in the window seat.

Bella had just drawn a picture of a dolphin and showed it to Jennifer.

"Wow, that's good!" Jennifer said. She then noticed Irma looking at them. "She has a thing for ocean animals." she said. Irma giggled and smiled at them.

"I was just like that at her age." Irma said. "I'll bet. So, I never knew, how did you and Robert meet?" Jennifer asked.

"Well, I kinda met him the day he first moved to Heatherfield, and we kinda hit it off from there. We started hanging out, then actually going on dates, one thing led to another, and eventually we ended up a very happily married couple." Irma replied.

"OK, everyone, the plan is to refuel in Hawaii, so sit tight, buckle up, and Robert and I will do the rest." Nigel said over the intercom.

In the cockpit, Robert looked out and saw an orange glow through the clouds. "Oh, God." he said. "What is it?" Nigel asked.

"Look." Robert said, pointing at the glow. Nigel looked and saw the glow, and shook his head in disbelief. "Go get our wives." Nigel said.

Robert got up and walked into the cabin. "Irma, Taranee, there's a... You might wanna..." he said as he pointed at the cockpit. Irma and Taranee got up and followed him.

As they looked on, the clouds cleared to reveal Hawaii completely covered in red-hot lava, volcanic vents spewing out even more lava.

"What is that?" Taranee asked. "I'm afraid that that, is Hawaii." Nigel said.

"How much fuel do we have left?" Irma asked. "Barely enough, we may have to make a water landing off the coast." Robert replied.

"Great, at least we're not gonna need the landing gear." Nigel added. "What happened to it?" Taranee asked.

"We lost it, in Vegas." Robert replied.

They flew over the remains of Honolulu, its high-rise towers engulfed in flames and collapsing, as a huge volcanic vent erupted nearby.


	6. Destructive Shift

Chapter 6

Destructive Shift

_On board Air Force One, unknown location_

Adrian knocked on Laura's door in her part of the cabin. "Dr. Wilson, may I come in?" he asked.

"I'm not very good company, I'm afraid, Dr...?" Laura replied. "Please, call me Adrian." Adrian replied.

"All those people we left behind, they don't stand a chance, do they?" Laura asked.

"I believe that nature will choose for itself from itself, what will survive. Just like you preserving those great artworks. Our culture is our soul, and that's not dying tonight." Adrian replied.

"Oh, come on, I contributed to this cover-up, and Da Vinci, Picasso, they're in. But if you're some nobody, you don't stand a chance." Laura replied.

"That's not- that's not necessarily true. You ever hear of a writer called Robert Lair? Wrote a book, _Shadows of War._ What do you think the chances are of an unknown writer who barely sold 2,000 copies, making it aboard this plane?" Adrian asked.

"I don't understand." Laura replied. "I mean, call it chance or fate or nature. It doesn't matter, this book is part of our legacy now. Why? Because I'm reading it." Adrian replied.

"Dr. Helmsley, please report to the Situation Room immediately." an announcement came over the intercom.

_Tokyo, Japan..._

Late at night, a phone was ringing, a little girl had woken up and rushed to the phone. "Hi!" the girl said as she answered the phone.

"Hello, I'm sorry, who is this?" Tony's voice on the other end said.

"This is Yoko Delgatto. Do you wanna speak to my daddy?" Yoko asked.

"Yes, please." Tony replied. "Who should I say is calling?" Yoko asked.

"Tell him it's his father." Tony replied. "You're my grandpa?" Yoko asked.

"Yes, sweetheart, I am." Tony replied. "Daddy, Daddy, Grandpa's on the phone." Yoko said as she rushed into her parents' room.

Will and his wife woke up immediately. Will went to the phone, but before he could respond, an earthquake shook the house violently.

Tony listened helplessly as the house collapsed, killing everyone inside. He hung up the phone, heartbroken.

_Washington, D.C._

The entire area was covered with ash from Yellowstone. Refugees were carrying whatever they could to shelter themselves from the ash.

Inside the White House, President Wilson walked through, looking at the refugees inside. "Mr. President, sir." a medic said as she saluted him.

"Mr. President." a woman called out. "What's the matter, sweetie?" president Wilson asked.

"She can't find her daddy." the woman replied.

"Why don't you two get comfy on that couch? Sally, come help them out, OK? I'll find your daddy." President Wilson replied.

He went outside to the triage tents. "Who can help me with missing persons?" he called out.

"Sorry, man. I'm really busy right now." the medic replied without realizing who he was talking too. He looked up and immediately realized his mistake.

"I mean- Of course, sir. Sorry, Mr. President." he said.

"Don't worry about it. You're doing a great job, son." President Wilson replied.

Suddenly, the whole area shook violently as a powerful earthquake struck. President Wilson watched in shock as the Washington Monument collapsed.

_Air Force One, Situation Room_

The earthquake in D.C. was being tracked on the main display. "What's happening?" Adrian asked.

"The capital's been hit by a 9.4." one crew member said. "We've lost communications with the White House, sir." another crew member replied.

"Where's it centered?" Adrian asked. "North Chesapeake Bay." Scott replied.

"Mr. Anheuser, the Russian president's on the line, sir." an Air Force captain said. "Excuse me." Carl said.

"We just entered Chinese airspace." the captain said.

"That's affirmative, Mr. President. Until communication is restored, I suppose I am in command. It appears that all other heads of state are en-route, with the exception of the Italian prime minister, who has also decided to stay behind and trust in prayer." Carl said.

_The Vatican, Rome, Italy_

Thousands of people had gathered in the Vatican with the Pope in desperate prayer.

Suddenly, the structure began to crumble as an earthquake shook the area. The crowd began to disperse as the dome collapsed into the square, rolling into the crowd as it crumbled.

_Air Force One, Situation Room_

On the main display, the image showed that the Earth's crust was shifting.

"The Earth's crust has begun to shift, Dr. Helmsley." Scott called out. "By what degree?" Adrian asked.

"1.2 degrees, but it's still moving. "So, what happens next?" Carl asked.

"Once the movement of our land masses comes to a halt, let's see a simulation, Scotty, we expect the formation of gigantic tsunamis, proportional to the magnitude of the corresponding quakes." Adrian's partner replied.

"Pull up the Japanese seaboard, will you?" Adrian asked. "Yes, sir." the crewman replied as he pulled up the desired data.

"My dad's on a cruise ship out here." Adrian said. "But I guess you already knew that, huh?" Adrian added.

"Sir, we recorded two underwater quakes at 7.9 and 8.2." the crew member said.

_Somewhere in the Yellow Sea_

A massive tsunami wave was making its way towards the cruise ship _Genesis_. In the galley, everyone was crowded around a small TV.

"From what we have just learned, Tokyo seems to have taken the full force of the earthquake. At this point, unconfirmed reports indicate that large areas of land are underwater. Please stay tuned for further-" the news report continued until it was cut off.

"Tony." Harry said. "I called; I was too late." Tony replied.

"Maybe they got out in time, you never know, they-" Harry replied, but was cut off when he noticed that the rolling cart on which the TV was mounted was moving, seemingly on its own.

Other carts were moving as the ship began to tilt severely. Tony held on to a fixed table that was bolted to the deck as Harry went outside.

"Harry!" Tony called out before losing his grip and falling. At this point, the massive wave struck the ship, capsizing it and killing everyone on board.

_Washington D.C._

Everything was covered with ash after the massive earthquake that hit the area. President Wilson looked up to see the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, swept up from Norfolk, being carried by a massive wall of water.

"I'm coming home, Dorothy." President Wilson said as the wave got close to the White House.

As the wave hit, the massive warship slammed upside down on top of the White House, crushing it under its massive weight.

The wall of water continued on to wash away the rest of Washington D.C.

_In the 767, location unknown_

Caleb was tuning through the stations on his pocket radio. "Anything?" Cornelia asked.

"No, just static, not even an emergency signal." Caleb replied. "Can't think about what's going on down there." Cornelia said.

Irma was in the cockpit with Robert and Nigel. "Tried to find our old spot at Yellowstone when I went camping with Jen's kids, but I couldn't find it." Robert said.

"That's when you met that crazy guy?" Irma asked.

"No, that was later, but he's the one that told me about what was going to happen in California, he's the one who enabled me to rescue you and everyone else in time. We owe him our lives, we would not have made it out without him." Robert said.

"How did you guys get out?" Nigel asked.

"Robert flew us out in a Cessna Grand Caravan after a rather scary drive through the city, literally as it crumbled around us. After seeing what happened, we didn't think anyone else that we knew was alive." Irma replied.

"Where were you and Taranee when Heatherfield was destroyed?" Robert asked.

"We were on a flight to Vegas, where we found you guys, when it happened. I guess we just got lucky." Nigel replied.

"Yeah, it's just too bad that Will, Hay Lin and their families, and even our families weren't as lucky." Irma replied as she wiped a tear off her face.

_Air Force One, in Chinese airspace_

The crew members had checked all communications and found absolutely no signal. "All global ground communication has ceased, sir." one crew member said.

"The only signals our satellites are picking up are coming from the vessels in Cho Ming." he added.

"Well, there's a piece of good news." Carl replied. "Any updates, Doctor?" he asked Adrian.

"We expect the tsunamis to reach landfall in every continent. The Cho Ming area will be impacted in approximately six hours. It looks like the crust has shifted by almost 23 degrees to the southwest. The data also shows the Earth's poles have reversed their magnetic fields. These are their new positions." Adrian said as the screen displayed the new positions of the Earth's poles.

"So you're telling me that the North Pole is now somewhere in Wisconsin?" Carl asked.

"Actually, that's the South Pole now." Adrian's partner replied.

_In the 767, a few hours later_

An alarm went off in the cockpit. "Oh no, this is not good!" Nigel said. "What's going on?" Irma asked.

"Engine failure, the right side engine is down." Robert replied as he flipped the APU switch to START and the APU GEN switch to ON.

"We must get ready." Nigel said. "How long do we have?" Irma asked. "Fifteen minutes, maybe." Nigel replied.

"I'd better wake the others up." Irma said as she went back into the cabin. She got out a set of life vests as Elyon woke up.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Well, we're gonna be landing soon, and it might be a bit bumpy and wet." Irma replied as the others woke up.

"What? I thought we were going to China!" she said. "We were, but we don't have enough fuel and we already lost power in one engine." Irma replied.

She handed the others life vests as Robert and Nigel put theirs on. "I'm not really a good swimmer." Bella said.

"Hey, it's okay, that's what this is for." Jennifer replied. She and Alex hugged their kids as the others looked on.

"Uh, Irma, Taranee, I think you better come in here!" Robert called out from the cockpit. The girls went up and were puzzled by what they saw: instead of open ocean like they saw just a few minutes before, they were over the Himalaya mountain range near Cho Ming, China.

"How in the hell did that happen?" Irma asked. "It's like the world shifted by about 1000 miles." Taranee replied.

"1578 miles to be exact." Nigel replied after checking the navigation system display. "It's called Earth Crust Displacement Theory by Professor Hapgood, 1958. Way to go, Charlie." Robert added.

Suddenly, the plane jolted as the other engine flamed out. "What was that?" Irma asked. "Oh no, we just lost the other engine!" Nigel replied.

Robert and Nigel managed to keep the now-gliding plane from crashing into the mountains below, scraping a pack of snow on one mountaintop.

A minute later, they saw an open glacier long enough for them to land on it. "I'm gonna shoot for that glacier, it's gonna get rocky!" Nigel said.

Robert lowered the flaps and deployed the air-brakes to control the plane's speed. Irma and Taranee rushed back to their seats and braced themselves for the inevitable impact.

"EVERYBODY BRACE!" Robert called out over the intercom as the plane got close.

Everyone braced themselves for the inevitable. Seconds later, the plane hit the icy ground hard, collapsing the landing gear.

"SHIT!" Robert exclaimed as the plane hit. The others screamed as the plane started scraping against the ground.

A minute later, the plane finally came to a grinding halt, a pile of snow built up on the bottom of the nose. Irma opened the emergency exit and deployed the emergency slide.

She got out and, as the others followed her, saw a group of Chinese military helicopters, Mi-17 "Hips", flying over the distant mountains.

"Can they see us?" Taranee asked. "I don't think so, they're too far away." Robert replied.

They just watched as the helicopters flew on, an animal slung underneath each one.

"Now what?" Elyon asked. "I think I saw a road a little ways back before we touched down, maybe we can hitch a ride there." Cornelia suggested.

"That just might work, let's do it." Robert replied as they started walking towards the road.

_Cho Ming Airfield_

"Dr. Wilson, I'm Captain Michaels, skipper of the American ship. Please accept my condolences for your father." Captain Michaels said.

"Thank you, Captain." Laura replied. Just then, Carl walked up.

"Mr. Anheuser, your party is the last to arrive." Captain Michaels said as they walked towards a Chinese CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

"There've been reports of severe damage, captain. What's the status of Ark Number Three?" Carl asked.

"We haven't done a complete assessment yet, but it looks like we lost it." Captain Michaels replied.

Their Chinook, and several others behind it, flew to the facility where the arks were located. "No toothbrush, only books." Laura said with a chuckle as she saw the contents of Adrian's bag, which were only books.

"Yeah, when I was a kid, my dad was on the road a lot. He would always leave me a box full of books, call me every night and quiz me. I'd get an ice cream cone for every book I read, so I was a fat kid." Adrian replied.

"I find that hard to believe." Laura replied.

"No, it's true, my high school career was 2000 books and zero girlfriends." Adrian replied.

"I didn't even kiss a boy until I was in college. They were all too scared of my dad." Laura replied.

The helicopters approached the facility, which was a row of massive hangars each containing an ark, which was also massive. The facility was in the side of a mountain, a set of anchor supports in front of each hangar.

Next to the first hangar was a heliport where the helicopters landed.

As Adrian and the others got off, he noticed a lot of people that looked like they were important getting off the other helicopters, including the Queen of England and the English Prime Minister.

The got onto a bus which shuttled them to the boarding area. They stared in awe at the size of the arks. "Leave it to the Chinese, I didn't think it was possible, not in the time we had." Carl said. "That's Ark Number Three, sir." Captain Michaels said. The ark had been damaged by debris from a hole in the roof. "The roof collapsed on it during the shifting of the Earth's crust." Captain Michaels added. "Jesus Christ!" Carl said. A large crowd was gathering in front of the boarding gate for the damaged ark. "Boarding of Ark Number 3 will be delayed due to technical difficulties." an announcement came over the intercom.

_Icy glacier, near the crash site_

Robert and the others were walking in search of the road Cornelia saw just before they landed. "I don't know, Cornelia, I'm not seeing a road." Irma said.

"Yeah, I'm not seeing anything either." Taranee added. "Come on, guys, it's around here somewhere, we can't give up, we got this far!" Cornelia replied.

"Yeah, and- wait, I hear something." Robert said as he heard a noise.

They stopped and listened to the sound, and realized that it was a truck. "Over there!" Elyon shouted as she spotted the vehicle.

Robert and the other started running towards the road, shouting to try and get the driver's attention. Robert rushed onto the road as the truck passed and threw a rock to try and get the occupants' attention.

On the truck, an elderly woman who was asleep woke up and saw Robert waving his arms and shouting.

She knocked on the cab's back window and the driver saw Robert in his rear-view mirror. The driver stopped the truck as Robert and the others approached.

_Cho Ming Ark Facility, Ark # 4_

Adrian and his group was crossing the brow to board Ark Number 4. Laura noted the other people that were boarding.

"How were all these people chosen?" she asked.

"Same way your art was: by experts from all over the world. We had geneticists determine the perfect gene pool to repopulate." Carl replied.

"These people were chosen by geneticists?" Adrian asked, pointing to a group of wealthy-looking people getting on board.

"All green-card holders, please proceed to Gallery D-4." the intercom announced. "Looks to me like their checkbooks got them aboard." Laura replied.

"That's right, Dr. Wilson, without billions of dollars from the private sector, this whole thing would have been impossible." Carl replied.

"So we sold tickets, and what about all these worker? Do they get passes?" Adrian asked.

"What, life isn't fair? Is that it? You wanna donate your passes to a couple of Chinese workers, be my guest." Carl replied as he began to walk away.

"Captain, I want a prelaunch briefing, all international teams present." he said.

_Nampan, India_

A large group of refugees were gathering on top of a plateau outside of a destroyed village.

In the distance, a siren began to sound as a massive wave approached. Satnam and his family were among the refugees.


	7. Aboard the Arks

Chapter 7

Aboard the Arks

_On board Ark 4_

Adrian arrived in his cabin and noted its rather large size. "What the hell?" he said as he examined the cabin.

"What is this? You could fit 10 people in here." he added.

Just then, his cell phone began to ring. He checked the caller ID and answered it.

"Satnam, where are you?" he asked. "On the Nampan Plateau." Satnam replied.

"What?" Adrian asked.

"There's a tidal wave coming from the east, it's gigantic." Satnam replied.

"Satnam, what happened?" Adrian asked. "We never got picked up, Adrian, the airlift never came. Goodbye, my friend." Satnam replied as he lowered his phone.

"Satnam, Satnam, Satnam!" Adrian called out. He listened helplessly as Satnam and the others around him were washed away by the massive wave.

"DAMMIT!" he said as he tossed his phone in frustration and ran out of the cabin.

_Ark 4 bridge_

"The flooding is coming this way?" Carl asked. "Mary, where are we set up?" Adrian asked after he arrived on the bridge.

"Over there." Mary replied as she pointed to a set of computer displays in another part of the bridge.

"Get me the satellite images from Nampan, India." Adrian ordered.

"OK, right away." Scotty replied as he pulled up the images. "What's happening?" Carl asked.

"No, Satnam was talking about another wave coming from the east." Adrian said after seeing the images of the wave coming from the west. Scotty adjusted the image display.

"Holy mother of God." Adrian said when he saw the images. "So, the flooding's gonna hit earlier, is that what you're telling me? The second wave is closer?" Carl asked.

"Plug in the new data." Adrian ordered. "Okay." Scotty replied as he entered the data.

"Satnam didn't get picked up." Adrian said, his frustration taking hold. "What?" Scotty asked.

"A lot of people didn't get picked up in this chaos. This is not a conspiracy, Helmsley. Your predictions haven't exactly panned out, have they, doctor?" Carl asked.

"It's ready, it's ready." Scotty said. They looked at the image in shock. "Oh, God, it's about 1500 meters high." Adrian said.

"When's it gonna get here? Talk to me, Helmsley, when's it gonna hit?" Carl asked. "Adjust the countdown." Adrian ordered.

All eyes fell on the timer as it adjusted to account for the newly discovered wave.

The timer stopped adjusting and continued counting down at 28 minutes and 10 seconds to impact.

"Oh, my God." Adrian said. "Captain, I need to speak to the other heads of state immediately." Carl said.

"Right away, Taylor?" Captain Michaels replied. "Aye, captain, standing by. Ark 6, stand by, Ark 7, stand by" Taylor replied.

Once the comm link was online, Carl began. "This is Carl Anheuser, acting CIC, Ark 4." Carl said. "Yes, sir." one of the commanders in the other arks replied.

"Requesting emergency conference, T-99" Carl finished.

_Down the road from the crash site, a half-hour later_

Robert and the others were riding in the back of the truck that had picked them up a half-hour earlier.

Robert looked at Edward, who was asleep, as Jennifer looked at Robert. "He thinks the world of you, you know that?" Jennifer asked.

"He's a great little man." Robert replied. "Yeah" Jennifer replied. "I always wanted a family of my own. You're pretty lucky, Jen; don't ever forget it." Robert replied.

Five minutes later, they arrived at a gate, likely to the safe zone. Robert and the others got out as a man on the other side opened the gate.

"Who are they?" the man asked in Chinese as the driver got to him. "We found them along-side the road." the driver replied in Chinese.

"Send them back!" the gate man replied. The driver looked at Robert and the others and knew that he would not do that.

"I am a follower of our great Lama Rinpoche. You know I cannot do that." the driver replied.

"What's the problem? You don't have to take all of us, please, just take my children, I'm begging you." Jennifer said.

"Why should I do that?" the gate man replied in English. "The same reason you sent for your family, please." Robert replied.

"Please just the children, you don't have to take us, please!" Irma pleaded. "Please, I don't know if you can understand what I'm saying, as a mother, I'm begging you!" Jennifer said to the elderly woman.

"We are all children of the earth." the elderly woman said to the gate man.

"My plan will not work for so many, Grandma." the gate man replied. "We will take them all." the woman replied sternly.

The gate man then gave them an "oh, all right" look and the others walked in.

_Ark loading area_

"Attention: all construction workers off deck, all crew members, on board now." an intercom announced as the massive hangar doors began to open.

"They're opening the mountain!" one man in the crowd said. "They're leaving without us." another man said.

"Step back, get back! What did I tell you?" the man in charge said as another man stepped towards the door.

"They're leaving you behind too. Look, idiot." the man said and as the supervisor looked around, before he could react, the man unleashed a hard right hook that knocked the man down.

The crowd then pushed the doors open and went towards the boarding area. "Follow me!" the lead man in the crowd said.

_Just outside the facility_

Robert and the others stared in awe as the large hangar doors opened. "We have to hurry, they are leaving." the gate man said. Inside her cabin, Laura stumbled as the ark shook.

"Initiate security procedures, time to impact: 17 minutes 42 seconds." a computer announced. A group of construction workers looked in awe as the ark slowly moved forward.

"Oh, excuse me. Where can I find Adrian Helmsley?" Laura asked out in the main passageway.

"He's on the bridge, this way." a woman replied as she led Laura towards the bridge.

Meanwhile, The gate man, Tenzin, led Robert and the others up towards Ark 4.

_In the bridge_

"Green lights on pressure, Mr. Anton?" Captain Michaels asked. "Green lights across the board, captain." Anton replied.

Meanwhile, Robert and the others climbed out of a hatch and ended up on one of the support structures below one of the arks.

Edward stared in awe at the huge vessel. "Why do they have anchors?" he asked.

"Because they're not spaceships, buddy; they're arks." Robert replied. "Noah, eat your heart out." Irma said as she and the others moved on.

Meanwhile, the crowd that was originally going on Ark 3 rushed towards Ark 4.

"Stop, stop! Stop!" one of the men in the crowd said as the crowd slowed down upon approaching the edge.

It was too late, and some people started falling over the edge. The ark shuddered as it was moved into place.

"Engage the support mechanisms." Captain Michaels ordered. "Aye, aye, captain. Engaging bow-anchor supports." another crew member replied as she engaged the supports.

"Just how long are they supposed to hold us in place?" Carl asked. "They're just meant to withstand the first impact of the waves, Mr. Anheuser." Captain Michaels replied.

As the stern supports engaged, Robert and the others carefully made their way along the edge of the place where the support would hook onto the ark.

They went into a hatch that led inside. Inside, Robert opened a bag full of flashlights and passed them out to the others.

Tenzin opened another hatch and led the others inside.

Inside the next compartment, which looked like some hydraulics area, Tenzin was using a huge air wrench to open a hatch that led to a tunnel.

Meanwhile, in the bridge, Adrian and the others in the bridge stared in horror at the camera image of the crowd spilling over the edge of the platform.

"Oh, my God. What's happening out there?" Laura asked. "Anheuser. Anheuser convinced the other heads of state to launch." Adrian replied.

"Mr. Anheuser, we have to stop this madness. Make sure the other bridges can see me." Adrian said.

"What do you think you're doing?" Carl asked.

"I know damn well what I'm doing. Turn it on." Adrian replied.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Dr. Adrian Helmsley, chief science advisor to the late President Wilson. I know we've all been forced to make difficult decisions to save our human civilization, but to be human means to care for each other and civilization means working together to create a better life. If that's true, then there's nothing human and nothing civilized about what we're doing here." Adrian said.

"Dr. Helmsley's passion is admirable, but I will remind you that we have very limited resources and extremely limited time." Carl said.

"Ask yourselves, can we really stand by and watch these people die? I read a quote two days ago, the author is probably dead by now, but he said: 'The moment we stop fighting for each other, that's the moment that we lose our humanity.' " Adrian continued.

"In order to save the human race, we have an obligation to stick to this plan, which every nation on this flotilla has signed up for." Carl replied.

"We have to let these people in!" Adrian shouted. "They're in God's hands now." Carl replied harshly. Everyone on the bridge fell silent.

"Officer, you turn that off." Carl ordered. The officer stared in shock. "That is an order, sailor, turn it off!" Carl added.

"Don't you dare touch that button, young man!" Adrian's assistant said.

"Have you completely lost your mind? Look at the clock, we have barely 15 minutes left! Do you wanna be responsible for the extinction of the human race? Can you handle that, Adrian?" Carl said.

"There's a young astrophysicist from India who's the reason we're all here." Adrian started.

"Oh, for God's sake." Carl said.

"He's the one who discovered it all. He connected all the dots, we all owe him our lives. I just learned that he was killed with his family in a tsunami in eastern India. He was my friend, and he died in vain. Everybody out there has died in vain if we start our future with an act of cruelty. What will you tell their children? What will they tell theirs?" Adrian pleaded.

"If my father were here, he would open the gates." Laura added. "The people of Russia along with China and Japan, agree to open the gates." the Russian president said.

"The United Kingdom, Spain, France, Canada, Germany, and I believe I may also speak for the Italian prime minister, we vote to let those people come in." the German prime minister added.

"Captain Michaels, please." Adrian pleaded. Captain Michaels picked up a phone.

"This is the captain, in a few moments, we will open the gates and get you people in. Please step back and clear the platform." he said over a loudspeaker.

The crowd outside instantly cheered at this news.

Meanwhile, Irma and the others, were making their way down a tunnel. "P-yew, it stinks." Bella said, referring to a foul odor that was present.

Elyon looked around and, upon looking up, saw a pair of giraffes on the deck above them. Looking around, they saw other animals in the area.

They then realized that they were in some kind of zoological chamber. Outside, the gates were opening on all of the arks.

"They are opening the gates." Tenzin said. The arm attached to the gate was coming down on the chamber that Robert, Caleb and Tenzin were still in.

Caleb tried to climb into the ventilation shaft, but the gate arm came down too fast and knocked him and Tenzin off of the ladder.

The air wrench landed in the space between two of the giant gears that were driving the gate mechanism. Caleb and Tenzin managed to grab an edge, but they were slipping.

Tenzin nearly slipped, his legs being cut by the sharp edges of the gear teeth. Robert managed to pull him up and went to help Caleb.

"Caleb, hold on, goddamn it! Give me your hand!" Robert said as he reached for Caleb. Caleb was starting to slip, and would soon fall.

"Come on, Caleb, grab my hand, Caleb! CALEB!" Robert shouted as Caleb slipped, falling to his death in the gears below.

"GODDAMMIT!" Robert shouted, frustrated over what just happened. Seconds later, the gate support arm got dangerously close.

Robert and Tenzin lay flat where they were, preparing for what was coming.

Suddenly, just as Robert had accepted his fate, the cable of the air wrench wrapped around the gear shaft and jammed the mechanism, causing it to stop.

Robert breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that he had not been crushed.

_On the bridge_

An alert came on the display showing a problem with the gate. "What's wrong with the gate?" Captain Michaels asked.

"Looks like it didn't run the full cycle; we're checking, captain." another crew member replied.

Outside, part of the crowd rushed onto the ramp and into the ark. _Four minutes to impact._ The computer announced.

Among the crowd was a group of workers that had joined the crowd. "We are loaded, captain." a crew member said.

"Well, let's lock it up, now." Carl replied. The gate began to rise as the last few members of the Ark 3 crowd got inside.

As the gate support rose, Robert and Tenzin got up. Suddenly, the cable broke, and the gate was jammed again.

On the bridge, the fault showed on the display as a hydraulics malfunction. "Something's jamming the hydraulics, captain." an ensign said.

"Then get it out, for Christ's sake. I can't fire up the engines until we get a good seal on that gate." Captain Michaels replied.

Just then, another crew member put up camera images of Robert and the others in the zoological area.

"Captain, we have a breach in the zoological bay." he said. "Can you zoom in?" Adrian asked.

"Yeah, the crew member replied as he zoomed in. Adrian recognized Bella and Edward immediately.

"I know those kids." he said. "What is happening? What is going on?" Carl asked. "Where did the come from?" Adrian asked.

The crew member changed to the hydraulics chamber camera display, which showed Robert helping Tenzin up.

"There, through the hydraulics chamber." the crew member said. "Captain, I think we found the problem." Adrian said. "Who are these people?" Carl asked.

"No, wait. He's injured, something must have gone wrong." Laura replied.

"Something must have gone wrong? Something must have gone- Are you kidding me? Of course something went wrong! You know, congratulations to the both of you, might have gotten us all killed, but as long as your conscience is clean, right Helmsley?" Carl replied.

"Captain, let's get an emergency team down there. I'll meet them at the hydraulics chamber." Adrian said.

"You know your way around here?" he asked another crew member. "Yeah, the officer replied.

"Let's go!" Adrian replied as they rushed for the hydraulics chamber. _One minute to impact. _the computer announced as the timer went past the 1 minute mark.

Meanwhile, the gargantuan wall of water had just reached the Cho Ming airfield, sweeping away every aircraft parked there, including Air Force One.

"Captain, Cho Ming Airfield's been hit." Taylor said. "Put me on emergency comm, Mr. Taylor." Captain Michaels replied.

"Aye, you're on, captain." Taylor replied as he handed Captain Michaels the receiver. "This is the captain speaking, we expect to be impacted by water shortly, all new passengers: hit the deck and brace yourselves" he said over the intercom.

"Okay, let's go!" Adrian said as he, the officer leading them and Laura made their way through the crowd. The new passengers got down and braced for the impact.

At this point, the crew could actually see the tsunami coming at them. "All stations, prepare for impact." the captain said.

Everyone braced themselves as the wave started to approach. As the wave hit, the ark shook and shuddered as the strong hull absorbed the impact.

Unfortunately, the gate had not closed all the way, and water began to rush in through the gap. The water rushed into the crowd, sweeping everybody off their feet.

"Collision pressure just below 80 pascal, captain." one officer said. "0.2 mil surface compression on bow sensors, captain." another officer said. "Alright, track Dr. Helmsley." Scotty said as they tracked his progress via the security cameras.

Meanwhile, as Robert helped get Tenzin into the chamber, alarms started to go off. "Elyon, will you take the kids to the stairs, please?" Jennifer asked.

"Which way?" Adrian asked as they made their way to the hydraulics chamber.

"We can't get there, water has penetrated the stern." the officer replied. The rear of the ship is starting to seal itself up one compartment at a time!" he added.

"Where's Caleb?" Cornelia asked. Robert shook his head. "He didn't make it, I'm sorry." he replied.

Suddenly, large yellow doors rose up from the deck, sealing off parts of the flooding tunnel. One door popped up between Jennifer and her kids.

"No! Bella!" Jennifer yelled. "Mommy!" Bella yelled back as the door shut. Elyon and Bella pounded on the door, but looked around as another door shut itself on the other end.

"Run, Bella! Run!" Elyon shouted as she and Bella rushed towards the closing door. "Go! Go!" Elyon shouted as Bella climbed over the door.

Bella managed to get over just before the door was sealed. "Mommy!" Bella yelled as she pounded on the door. "Dammit!" Elyon yelled as she realized that she was trapped.

"Sir, is there another way to the hydraulics chamber?" Adrian asked. "Where does this ladder go?" Laura asked.

"To the zoological bay!" the crew member replied. "Okay, okay, let's go!" Adrian said as they proceeded down the ladder.

In the bridge, the crew watched as Air Force One was swept towards them. "Professor, it's Air Force One." Scotty said.

The aircraft smashed into the starboard mid-ship anchor support, breaking it off. The ark shook from the impact as the other anchor supports gave way and broke.

The now-loose ark turned towards the other two arks on a collision course. The ark shook with the vibrations as the bottom of the bow scraped against the hull of Ark Number 5.

"Captain, the turbine's not responding." an officer said. "So override it. Hit the override button and start the engines." Carl ordered.

"We can't start the engines until we close that gate." the captain replied.

The ark went down a mountainside like going over a waterfall, throwing people against the bulkheads. "Help me! Help!" Elyon shouted as the water rose higher.

"Elyon! Elyon!" Bella shouted as she continued to pound the door. At this point, Adrian, Laura and the officer reached her. "You okay?" Adrian asked.

"My mommy's in there. Please help her." Bella replied. "We'll get to your mommy, they're doing everything they can." Laura replied to calm her down.

"Can we talk to them?" Adrian asked. "I'm gonna try to connect us." the officer replied as he dialed in some numbers.

"We have to stop the bleeding." Jennifer said as she examined Tenzin's wounds. "Mom, how about my belt?" Edward suggested.

Just then, a beep was heard as the comm link was activated. "Mr. Lair! Robert!" Adrian's voice said.

"Hey!" Robert shouted upon hearing the voice. "Help! Hey!" Irma shouted.

"It's Adrian Helmsley, we met at Yellowstone." Adrian said. "That's great! Open the goddamn door!" Robert replied.

"Your niece is with me!" Adrian replied. "Bella!" Robert called out. "Bella!" Jennifer called out. "Where's Edward?" Bella asked.

"I'm right here, Bell." Edward replied as he showed her his location. _Impact warning, thirty degrees west, forty-five degrees east. Target elevation, 29,035 feet. _The computer announced.

"Twenty-nine thousand feet? What the hell is at 29,000 feet?" Carl asked. "We're headed straight for the north face of Mount Everest, Mr. Anheuser, and if we cannot start the engines, we will not survive the impact." the captain replied.

The ark drifted closer and closer to Mt. Everest, in imminent danger of impact.

"Robert, you're sealed off. We can't get to you! There's something blocking the hydraulics! If you can't get it out, none of us are gonna make it!" Adrian said.

"Dr. Helmsley, look at this; it is completely submerged down there, there would be no way for them to get any air." the officer said.

"There's no other way." Adrian replied. "But it's a suicide mission, sir." the officer replied. "I know where it is, I'll give it a try." Robert said.

"Wait, I'm going with you." Irma said as she started to follow Robert. "Okay, but stay close to me." Robert replied.

"What happened, anyway?" Irma asked. "We caused it, it was us, we gotta check it out." Robert replied as they held their breaths and went under.

Meanwhile, Elyon was up to her neck in water, which was still rising. "Please! Can you hear me?" she shouted.

She struggled to keep her head above water as it rose to just a few inches below the deck above.

Meanwhile, Robert and Irma raced to the hydraulics chamber. They found the air wrench cable jammed in the gears. They located an air pocket above them and got some air.

In the bridge, the crew watched as they got closer to Mount Everest. _Distance to impact: 1850 meters,_ the computer announced. Adrian dialed the number that switched the camera feed to the hydraulics chamber.

"There he is!" Adrian said as he picked up a phone. "Captain, we have a visual! I think we found the problem." he said.

"Show us the hydraulics chamber!" the professor ordered. Scotty changed the display to show the camera feed from the hydraulics chamber. Irma looked on as Robert tried to free the cable.

Robert surfaced to get more air as Irma went to make an attempt. They were taking turns trying to unjam the cable, alternating on each breath.

One person would be down unjamming the cable, while the other used the flashlight to mark the location of the air pocket.

"Grandma, Grandpa, I am sorry, I could not save us." Tenzin said. "They have gone back in, they will fix it." Tenzin's brother, the gate man, replied. "There's no way." Tenzin replied.

"Don't lose your faith, brother." Tenzin's brother replied.

Outside, the ark was scraping against the bottom of the mountain. The impact helped to unjam the cable, but disoriented Robert in the process.

Irma lost sight of him among the cloud of bubbles that appeared from below the gears. "Robert!" she shouted.

On the bridge, the camera feed was lost. "No, we lost him, we're gonna die, we're gonna die!" Scotty said.

In the hydraulics chamber, Robert regained his bearings and held up his hands to show Irma that he was alright before he continued his efforts. Irma found the frayed end of the cable and tracked it to the gear shaft that it was wrapped around.

She signaled Robert to show him and he swam over and saw the problem.

They surfaced to get more air. "Great job, you light the way, I'll go for the cable." Robert said as he went back under. "Okay." Irma replied.

On the bridge, the crew braced for the imminent. _Distance to impact: 400 meters;_ the computer announced. "Underwater ridge ahead, we're gonna run aground, captain." an officer said.

The ark shook from the impact with the ridge, just as Robert had disconnected the other end of the cable from the air wrench.

At that moment, the gears started turning again, and Robert grabbed the tool before it could fall back into the gears. "Yeah!" Irma cheered as Robert dropped the air wrench onto the deck below. Irma and Robert then began heading back towards the others.

In the bridge, the display showed that the gate was now fully sealed. "Sir, the gate is sealed." one officer said. "That's affirmative, captain." another officer added. "Anton, start the engines!" the captain ordered.

"Aye, aye, captain. Full reverse." Anton replied as he applied the engine setting lever to FULL REVERSE. A puff of black smoke shot out of the exhaust stacks as the engines started up.

"We're too fast! We're not gonna make it!" an officer said. _Distance to impact: 50 meters...40 meters;_ the computer announced. The bottom of the hull hit part of the mountain base as the bow dug into the side of the mountain.

Everyone on the bridge stared in horror as a huge avalanche of rocks and ice came down towards the ark. _Reverse motion activated, distance to impact: 10 meters...20 meters,_ the computer announced as the ark finally began backing out and away from the mountainside.

Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Yes!" Scotty yelled as everyone on the bridge started cheering loudly. "Hard to port," the captain ordered. "Aye, captain, hard to port!" the helmsman replied as he applied the proper settings. The ark started turning away from the mountain.

In the chamber, Irma surfaced first. "We did it, we did it, we did it!" she said as she hugged Cornelia. "Where's Robert?" Cornelia asked. "He was right behind me." Irma replied.

"Any word from the hydraulics chamber? Where is he?" the captain asked. "I thought you said he was right behind you?" Jennifer said. "He was." Irma replied. "Are you sure?" Taranee asked.

"Yeah, he was right there!" Irma replied, tears building up in her eyes.

Irma and Jennifer went under to check the tunnel entrance, but saw no sign of Robert. They surfaced and stared in disbelief. "Robert...no." Jennifer said. Cornelia cried in Taranee's arms.

"Come on, Robert, come on." Irma said as she cried. "Oh, God, please don't let it end like this, please don't let him be dead!" Irma said.

Just then, their eyes grew wide as they saw a beam of light coming from the other end of the tunnel.

"Oh, my-" Irma said as she saw Robert swim up towards them. He surfaced and found himself in Irma's arms.

"He did it!" Adrian said as he saw what was happening. "Uncle Bob!" Bella shouted with joy. "He did it!" Alex shouted. "He did it!" Taranee shouted.

Everyone started cheering again, this time over Robert's incredible success against overwhelming odds. "I can't believe it, I thought I lost you down there!" Irma said as she cried.

"Hey, it's okay, guys like me don't die that easily!" Robert replied. Irma chuckled at the joke and hugged him. Tenzin weakly gave Robert a thumbs-up.

Everyone in the chamber smiled with relief as the water started to lower.

Elyon, weakened from her struggle, breathed a sigh of relief as the water level dropped fast, thanks to the ark's advanced dewatering system.

The doors eventually opened and Elyon was reunited with the others. The ark sailed out of the mountain range and into clear waters.

At long last, the danger was over.

_The next night..._

Robert and Irma were resting in a cabin that they were given after their intense experience. As Robert started to fall asleep, Irma started crying. "Hey, what's wrong?" Robert asked as he wrapped his arm around her.

"I...I just can't stop thinking about what had happened, all those people who died, all...all our friends and family we lost!" Irma replied before she cried on Robert's shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay, the thing that matters is that we're alive, we made it. That's what they would have wanted: for us to survive and become part of mankind's future; for us to have a future." Robert replied.

Irma wiped her tears away as she kissed Robert. A minute later, they heard crying from the cabin next to theirs.

"Sounds like Cornelia's really feeling the effects of Caleb's death." Robert said. "Yeah, I think we should go see her, show her we care." Irma replied.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Robert replied as they got up.

They entered Cornelia's cabin and saw her crying on her bed. "Cornelia." Irma said as she sat next to her. Cornelia got up and saw Irma and Robert.

"Oh, you guys!" Cornelia said as she hugged them. "I'm so sorry about Caleb; he was a good man." Robert said.

Just then, Elyon came in. "Hey, Elyon." Irma said as she saw her. "I heard Cornelia crying and I wanted to see how she's doing." Elyon said as she walked towards them.

Cornelia saw Elyon and wrapped her in a bear hug as she cried.

They stayed like that for the rest of the night, their first night of rest since the whole series of global cataclysms began.


	8. Epilogue: A Month Later

Epilogue

A Month Later

_Day 27, Month 01, Year 0001 (January 17, 2013)_

Adrian was typing on his laptop. "Two years after the events of North Korea, Shadow 1, the lead aircraft that Robert and Irma piloted during the war, was sent to the Pensacola Naval Air Museum, where it will remain on display forever, never to take to the skies again. Over the next three years, the other couples eventually got married. The future looked bright for all of the former pilots. The end." Laura said as she read the last lines of the book Robert wrote, _Shadows of War._

"It's good." Laura said. "I thought you'd like it." Adrian replied.

"Tell me, Dr. Wilson, apart from books and art, do you think there's anything else we might possibly share in the future?" he asked.

"Are you asking me out on a date, Dr. Helmsley?" Laura asked with a smile. "Because, you know, my diary is pretty full." she added.

"Actually, yes, I was." Adrian replied. They were about to kiss when the intercom made an announcement. "Dr. Helmsley to the bridge, please, Dr. Helmsley to the bridge." the intercom announced.

"Come here." Laura said as Adrian nearly turned to go.

They kissed again for a few minutes before breaking apart for air.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Michaels speaking. In a few minutes, I will give orders to unseal the decks." Captain Michaels began.

"Come on." Adrian said as he led Laura out. "At 2345 last night, our sister arks, Numbers 6 and 7, have joined our course. For the first time on our journey, we will have clear skies and moderate-to-good air quality. As you know, our passenger count is way over capacity, so please be careful when you step out, and of course, enjoy the fresh air." the captain finished as everyone made their way to the doors leading to the outer decks.

Irma and Robert were among the crowd, Jennifer and her family right behind them. Elyon, Taranee, Nigel and Cornelia were in their own group a couple of yard down.

The crowd watched in awe as the doors began to slowly open. As the crowd stepped out, the view was breathtaking.

The doors had opened to reveal a beautiful sunrise, with few clouds.

Elsewhere on the ark, other outdoor decks were being opened to allow the passengers to enjoy the fresh air and clear skies.

Around the arks, helicopters kept an eye on conditions around them.

Topside, air traffic control towers rose up out of the tops of the arks, a set of helipads located next to them.

"Oh, Adrian, excellent. I called because we just got our first satellite feed. The equalization of the oceanic seabeds has not turned out to be as extreme as we expected. The waters are receding much faster than we thought, thank God, and this is hard to believe, but the Himalayas are no longer the roof of the world. It's now the Drakensberg mountains of KwaZulu-Natal." the professor said as Adrian approached.

"The entire African continent has risen." Adrian said as he looked in awe at the displays. "Several thousand feet, and it likely never even flooded." the professor continued.

"That's why they call it the Cape of Good Hope, we've already set course for it." Captain Michaels added.

Outside, Robert and the others were enjoying the view. "Uncle Bob, when will we go back home?" Bella asked.

"Well, we talked about that, we're gonna find a new home somewhere out here, right? I mean, wherever our family is together, that's home." Robert replied.

"Yeah, and we will always be together, no matter what happens or where we go." Irma replied.

They looked on at the ocean ahead, knowing that there was a bright future ahead for them, and the rest of what was left of mankind that now resides on the three arks.


End file.
